The Golden House of Venice
Venice's Ca' d'Oro (Golden House) is a gorgeous 15th century palatial home housing the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti museum
The 15th-century Ca' d'Oro is one of the best preserved and most impressive of the hundreds of patrician palazzi lining the Grand Canal. After the Palazzo Ducale, it's the city's finest example of Venetian Gothic architecture. A restoration of its delicate pink-and-white facade (its name, the Golden Palace, refers to the gilt-covered facade that faded long ago) was completed in 1995.
Inside, the ornate beamed ceilings and palatial trappings provide an attention-grabbing backdrop for the private collection of former owner Baron Franchetti, who bequeathed his palazzo and artwork to the city during World War I.
The core collection, expanded over the years, now includes sculptures, furniture, 16th-century Flemish tapestries, an impressive collection of bronzes (12th–16th century), and a gallery whose most important canvases are Andrea Mantegna's San Sebastiano and Titian's Venus at the Mirror, as well as lesser paintings by Tintoretto, Carpaccio, Van Dyck, Giorgione, and Jan Steen.
Step out onto the palazzo's loggia, overlooking the Grand Canal, for a view up and down the aquatic waterway and across to the Pescheria, a timeless vignette of an unchanged city. Off the loggia is a small but worthy ceramics collection open from 10am to noon.
Calle Ca d'Oro 3931–3932, Cannaregio (north of Rialto Bridge)
tel. 041-523-8790, www.cadoro.org
Closed Mon after 2pm
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This article was last updated in December 2006. All information was accurate at the time.
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Copyright © 1998–2008 by Reid Bramblett. All rights reserved.
