The Casa dei Tre Oci or Casa di Maria is a modern,

neo-gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

palace located in the island of Giudecca of the sestiere of

Dorsoduro Dorsoduro is one of the six sestieri of Venice, in northern Italy. Dorsoduro includes the highest land areas of the city and also Giudecca island and Isola Sacca Fisola. Its name derives from the Italian for "hard ridge", due to its comparati ...

, in Venice. The facade is visible across the Giudecca Canal from the Church of the Zitelle.

History

La Casa dei Tre Oci was designed in 1912-1913 by the Bolognese painter

Mario de Maria Mario or Marius de Maria (9 September 1852 – 1924) was an Italian painter, known for depicting nocturnal landscapes, and gaining the label by the contemporary poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, as the ''painter of moons''. Biography He was born in Bo ...

as his own house. It is stated that the symbolism of the facade is that the three large windows represent Maria's immediate family: his son, wife, and himself, while the smaller upper window represents his then daughter Silvia, who had recently died in her youth. The Italian term for eye (''occhi'') in Venetian dialect is ''òci'', hence the house's name. After the Maria family the palace was occupied for a spell by the architect

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (20 ...

. In 2016, the house is owned by ''Polymnia Venezia srl'', a cultural institution promoting twentieth century art. In the 1960s Fulbright scholars Wolf Kahn, Richard Miller and William Eddelman lived and worked in the building. During those years it was known as the Casa de Maria. Many noted painters lived and worked there, including

Friedensreich Hundertwasser Friedrich Stowasser (15 December 1928 – 19 February 2000), better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (), was an Austrian visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection ...

and his wife as well as

Pegeen Vail Guggenheim Pegeen Vail Guggenheim (August 18, 1925 – March 1, 1967) was a Swiss-born American painter. Her painting combines two different artistic styles: surrealism and naïve art. She was the daughter of the art collector Peggy Guggenheim and the ...

. Miss Berheimer, who was an assistant to

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he i ...

also resided there. There were several separate apartments and art studios. At one time, the top floor was used by the American Consulate. The historic gondola, once in the lobby, is now in the Venice Arsenale Museum. The Fondazione di Venezia acquired the building in 2000 and reopened it in 2012 post-refurbishment as a gallery for photography exhibitions. In 2021,

Nicolas Berggruen Nicolas Berggruen (; born 10 August 1961) is a US-based billionaire investor and philanthropist. Born in Paris, France, he is a dual American and German citizen.Jeremy Kahn (October 25, 2011)''Bloomberg'' He is the founder and president of Berggru ...

signed a preliminary agreement to purchase the building, with plans to use the space to host symposia, workshops and exhibitions in partnership with major museums.

Gallery

File:5828 - Venezia, Giudecca - Mario De Maria, Casa dei tre oci, Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 6-Aug-2008.jpg, Facade File:5815 - Venezia, Giudecca - Mario De Maria, Casa dei tre oci, Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 6-Aug-2008.jpg, Second floor window File:5831 - Venezia, Giudecca - Mario De Maria, Casa dei tre oci, Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 6-Aug-2008.jpg, Detail of terraces

Bibliography

* ''Guida d'Italia – Venezia''. 3^a ed. Milano, Touring Editore, 2007. . * Derived from the Italian Wikipedia entry

Visiting

The Casa dei Tre Oci is open Everyday from 10am - 7pm (closed on Tuesdays) It is located on the island of Giudecca and is mostly easily reached by the Zitelle vaporetto stop. TIckets cost €12 in person or €9 with the MyPass Venezia App. The current on display is the Letizia Battaglia Exhibition until August 18, 2019.

References

{{Authority control Dei Tre Oci Gothic Revival architecture in Italy Houses completed in 1913 Dorsoduro