Palazzo Soranzo Cappello is a palace in Venice, Italy located in the Santa Croce district, near Palazzo Gradenigo. The palace is currently occupied by the Superintendence of Archaeology, the Fine Arts and Landscape for the metropolitan area of Venice and the provinces of Belluno, Padua and Treviso.

History

The palace was built in the late 16th century by the powerful Soranzo family. The style is similar to that of

Michele Sanmicheli Michele Sanmicheli (also spelled ''Sanmmicheli'', ''Sanmichele'' or ''Sammichele'') (1484–1559), was a Venetian architect and urban planner of Mannerist-style, among the greatest of his era. A tireless worker, he was in charge of designing bui ...

. Subsequently, the palazzo passed through numerous families. For some time it was used as a barracks. After a few decades of neglect in the 20th century, the building has been restored.

Architecture

The facade, facing the Rio Marin, is of four levels with a mezzanine and two noble floors. The first

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 h ...

is decorated with an elegant

serliana A Venetian window (also known as a Serlian window) is a large tripartite window which is a key element in Palladian architecture. Although Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) did not invent it, the window features largely in the work of the Italian ar ...

with white-stone inserts and a balustrade. Both noble floors are underlined by stringcourse cornices, standing out of the pink plaster wall. There is a gable in the central part of the top floor, terminating with a tympanum. Two small chimneys replace those that originally were two high pinnacles. The interior has valuable paintings and decorative works. The palazzo has a garden, which was mentioned in the works of poet Gabriele D'Annunzio and writer

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

—the palazzo, in fact, seems to be the one in which the stories of ''

Il fuoco ''The Flame'' () is a 1900 novel by the Italian writer Gabriele D'Annunzio. It is set in 1883 Venice and tells the story of a young artist and his mistress, a famous but quickly aging actress. The story was inspired by D'Annunzio's relationship wit ...

'' (1900) and '' The Aspern Papers'' (1888) are respectively set.

Gallery

Venezia - Palazzo Soranzo (Santa Croce) - Foto di Paolo Steffan.jpg, Side view on the facade Rio Marin Venezia.jpg, Fondamenta Rio Marin

References

{{Reflist Houses completed in the 16th century Soranzo Cappello Baroque architecture in Venice Soranzo family

History

Architecture

Gallery

See also

References