Palazzo Bolani Erizzo is an ancient Venetian palace of the 13th century, built along the Grand Canal in 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. It stands wall to wall with Palazzo Dolfin.

History

The palazzo was the ancient residence of the poet

Pietro Aretino Pietro Aretino (, ; 19 or 20 April 1492 – 21 October 1556) was an Italian author, playwright, poet, satirist and blackmailer, who wielded influence on contemporary art and politics. He was one of the most influential writers of his time and a ...

in the 16th century, and in the early 19th century the palace was bought by the Levi family. After the World War One, the engineer Gino Vittorio Ravà, a builder, resided there, who built the Scalzi bridge in Venice and invented the restoration system using the hydraulic jack method. During the World War Two, the palazzo was rented for a short time by poet

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye d ...

who in 1944 founded the futurist association Cannaregio 5662.

Architecture

The current palace is the result of the renovation of an older building that has been raised in more recent times. The narrow façade has 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, with each one featuring a three-part

mullioned window A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

with large arches on columns. The ground floor has an arched portal moved to the left position, which is adjoined by two small rectangular windows on the right. All arched openings and the lower part of the ground floor feature

Istrian stone Istrian stone, ''pietra d'Istria'', the characteristic group of building stones in the architecture of Venice, Istria and Dalmatia, is a dense type of impermeable limestones that was quarried in Istria, nowadays Croatia; between Portorož and Pu ...

details. On the top floor there are four rectangular windows with a frontal balcony. While the two middle ones share a balcony with iron railings, the two lateral windows each have an own balcony.

Panorama from the palazzo

According to E. Fahy, an oil painting by

Francesco Guardi Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (; 5 October 1712 – 1 January 1793) was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the classic Venetian school of ...

, representing the Grand Canal and Rialto bridge, shows the Venetian panorama as it was possible to observe from a window located on the first floor of the palazzo.

References

{{Reflist Palaces in Sestiere Cannaregio Palaces on the Grand Canal (Venice) Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century Medieval Italian architecture