Palazzo Barbarigo Nani Mocenigo is a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

palace in

Venice, Italy Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

located in the

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 ...

district, along the Nani embankment on the San Trovaso river, near the campo of the same name.

History

The palace dates back to the 15th century and was the residence of the

Barbarigo family The Barbarigo were a patrician, noble Venetian family, whose members had an important role in the history of the Republic of Venice. History The family originated from the Istrian area (according to the tradition, their ancestral place was Mugg ...

. The building was part of the dowry that Elena Barbarigo, a daughter of Doge

Agostino Barbarigo Agostino Barbarigo (3 June 1419 – 20 September 1501) was Doge of Venice from 1486 until his death in 1501. While he was Doge, the imposing Clock Tower in the Piazza San Marco with its archway through which the street known as the Merceria le ...

, brought to her husband Giorgio Nani. From them the palace passed to his son Bernardo, a founder of the family branch named ''di San Trovaso''. In the first half of the 19th century, the San Trovaso branch died out, and the complex became the home of the distant relatives of Nani Mocenigo who previously lived in a building on the

Cannaregio Cannaregio () is the northernmost of the six historic ''sestieri'' (districts) of Venice. It is the second largest ''sestiere'' by land area and the largest by population, with 13,169 people . Isola di San Michele, the historic cemetery island, ...

district. Part of the building still belongs to this family, while the rest was purchased by the

Ca' Foscari University Ca' Foscari University of Venice ( it, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, simply Università Ca' Foscari) is a public university in Venice, Italy. Since its foundation in 1868, it has been housed in the Venetian Gothic palace of Ca' Foscari, from w ...

, that made it the seat of the Department of Italian Studies, along with an adjoining library. Since 2007, the building has remained empty, sometimes being rented out to wealthy tourists or used for art events. As of 2022 the building is being used as a hotel.

Architecture

The palace is a typical example of

Venetian Gothic architecture Venetian Gothic is the particular form of Italian Gothic architecture typical of Venice, originating in local building requirements, with some influence from Byzantine architecture, and some from Islamic architecture, reflecting Venice's trading ...

of the 14-15th centuries. The square-shaped façade has three levels and a mezzanine. The ground floor offers two Gothic portals: the central one and the smaller one on the left. The two

noble floor The ''piano nobile'' (Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ''bel étage'') is the principal floor of a palazzo. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the hous ...

s have central

quadrifora Quadrifora is a type of four-light window. It appears in towers and belfries on top floors, where it is necessary to lighten the structure with wider openings. The quadrifora can also be a group closely set windows. Overview The quadrifora is d ...

s supported by balustrades and flanked by pairs of ogival single-light windows. The first noble floor has a pair of coats of arms in the wings. On the right side of the roof there is a terrace overlooking the

San Trovaso San Trovaso (dedicated to Saints Gervasius and Protasius) is a church in the sestiere or neighborhood of Dorsoduro in Venice, northern Italy. The church dates to at least the 1028. The present church was rebuilt by 1584. The architect was probab ...

and

Giudecca Canal The Giudecca Canal ( vec, Canal de ła Zueca) is a body of water that flows into the San Marco basin in Venice, Italy. It is one of the major canals in the city, it bisects the ''sestieri'' of Dorsoduro, separating Giudecca island and district fr ...

area.

References

{{Reflist Houses completed in the 15th century Palaces in Sestiere Dorsoduro Gothic architecture in Venice

History

Architecture

See also

References