Ca' Foscari (or Palazzo Foscari) is a Gothic-style building in Venice located in the Dorsoduro district and overlooking the Grand Canal in volta de canal, on the corner with the rio that takes its name. The Italian University of the same name is located there.
House of the Two Towers
In place of the building that we currently
know as Ca' Foscari, there was previously another building, called the
"Casa delle Due Torri". In 1429 the Republic of Venice bought the palace
from Bernardo Giustinian to make it the residence of Gianfrancesco
Gonzaga, lord of Mantua and vice-captain of the army of the Serenissima.
Gonzaga did not immediately take possession of the building and perhaps
never lived there; thus the Casa delle due Torri was used to host
illustrious guests of the Serenissima, especially diplomats.
In
1438 Gonzaga allied with the Viscontis leaving the Republic of Venice
and in 1439 the house was given to Francesco Sforza, as a reward for the
reconquest of Verona which took place in the same year and for his
active role, on a military level, in favor of the league
Venetian-Florentine. Sforza only stayed in the palace for short periods
and in 1446 he began to plot behind the backs of the Serenissima to take
possession of the Duchy of Milan: when the Council of Ten discovered the
betrayal, the palace was confiscated from him (1447).
Ca' Foscari
In 1452 the palace was auctioned and purchased by Doge Francesco
Foscari, to add an important property to the family fortune. Once
purchased, the Casa delle Due Torri was demolished, both to build a more
imposing palace and to erase the memory of Sforza.
The author of
the building was Bartolomeo Bono who, at the behest of the doge, had
already erected the door of the Charter of the Doge's Palace between
1438 and 1443, together with his father Giovanni.
The works began
in 1453 and it was possible for the doge to move into this new house
only a few days before he died in 1457. The house remained in the
possession of the Foscari family.
The palace was used as a
residence for guests of the Serenissima, such as European sovereigns and
diplomats. For the Historical Regatta, or to celebrate the guests of the
Republic visiting Venice, the Foscaris often organized parties on the
main floors of the building.
Thanks to its location in the vault
of the Canal, i.e. on the widest curve of the Grand Canal, which allows
for a sweeping view from the Rialto Bridge to the Gallerie
dell'Accademia, the second floor was chosen by many painters (such as
Giovanni Antonio Canal known as Canaletto , Michele Marieschi, Francesco
Guardi) as a location for painting views of the Grand Canal. Two works
by Canaletto were painted from the second floor of the building: Grand
Canal from Ca' Balbi towards Rialto (1720 - 1723, Museo del Settecento
Venezia in Ca' Rezzonico) and Regatta on the Grand Canal (about 1732,
Windsor, Royal Collection). Ca' Foscari was also the subject of
paintings by many landscape painters (such as Luca Carlevarijs and
Michele Marieschi).
It is currently the historic seat of the Ca'
Foscari University, which has made some of the most beautiful rooms
accessible to the public, such as the Aula Baratto and the Aula Berengo.
In 2013, thanks to a series of important technical interventions for
energy saving and the adoption of strict environmental management
practices of the building implemented by the Venetian University, Ca'
Foscari obtained the LEED sustainability certificate, becoming the
oldest building in the world to win this prestigious certification.
1513: celebration for the wedding of Federico Foscari with a daughter
of Giovanni Venier
1516: subdivision of the house among the heirs of
the Foscari family
1574: visit of Henry III of France, hosted at Ca'
Foscari where he was taken aboard the Bucintoro and for him the palace
was decorated with great magnificence. During this stay the king fell in
love with Veronica Franco, a Venetian courtesan also dedicated to
poetry.
1661: the Foscari heirs return to live in a wing of the
palace, renting another to the Duke of Brunswick
1698: Tsar Peter I
of Russia was hosted in great secrecy at Ca' Foscari
1747: Backyard
bull hunting
1750: fire
1790: the last of the family who lived in
the house, Francesco Foscari, dies
1811: amateur actors occupied the
palace to use it as a theatre
1835: the building was used by poor
families, artists (who took advantage of the view of the Grand Canal)
and shopkeepers (who used it as a warehouse)
1837: negotiations for
the purchase of the building by the Municipality began
Around 1840:
Laura and Marianna Foscari (elderly daughters of Nicolò Foscari),
reduced to poverty, returned to live there on the second floor; in the
palace and in its courtyard speculators and stonecutters meanwhile
plundered the building
1845: the deed of purchase was stipulated by
the Municipality
1846: restoration work began, but was interrupted
two years later
1848: on the occasion of the uprisings of 1848 and
the establishment of a provisional government in Venice, some rooms on
the ground floor were granted to a legion of the civic guard created by
Daniele Manin
1849: during the bombardment of Venice by the Austrians
some poor families found refuge in Ca' Foscari; under Austrian
domination the building was used as a barracks
1866: with the end of
the third war of Italian independence and the passage to the Kingdom of
Italy, the municipality took possession of the building again and used
some rooms to store objects used during the celebrations for the
liberation, pending a decision on the definitive destination
1868:
the municipal council decided to use it as the seat of the Higher School
of Commerce, then Ca' Foscari University; in December of the same year
the courses began, even if the restoration works were to be completed
only the following year.
The architect Carlo Scarpa intervened on the building in two stages
(1936 and 1956).
In 1936 he planned the restoration of various
rooms of the building, at the request of the then rector. The
interventions concerned the entrance hall, the current meeting room on
the first floor, the first great hall, the space of which before the
restoration was occupied by a merchandise museum. In the entrance hall,
the visual connection between the water door and the entrance onto the
courtyard was restored, eliminating the pre-existing closure with two
small side access doors. In 1956 he was called upon again to transform
the great hall into a lecture hall, creating a corridor by means of a
boiserie.
In the years 2004-2006 Ca' Foscari, together with the
adjacent Ca' Giustinian, underwent another restoration project which
also included the construction of connections between the two buildings
and the modernization of the systems. During the restoration work,
remains of the 9th century were brought to light under the courtyard and
a frescoed floor from the 15th century, later covered by a walkable
crystal, and ceilings with gilding from the 16th century were found in
one of the rooms on the second floor .
The Casa delle Due Torri was a warehouse building, with a dwelling
and a warehouse, set back from the bank of the Grand Canal and with a
loggia at the level of the water gate.
The new palace was built
as a "domus magna" (residence and place of representation). It was
extended to the edge of the Grand Canal and a second noble floor was
added, thanks to which it rose above the other patrician houses that
stood nearby. The height of the house is also due to a stone base, which
prevented the tide from reaching it. A simple door was built at the
level of the water gate, while a secondary entrance was added on the
public road.
Overall, the facade of Ca' Foscari recalls the
Procuratia di San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale. The architectural
element of greatest importance is the loggia on the second floor: the
eight openings and the quadrilobed frieze with semi-quadrilobed
conclusion at the two ends create the effect of an expansion of the
entire facade.
Above the mullioned window on the second floor is
a stone frieze with the coat of arms of the doge's family and a jousting
helmet with a lion with outstretched wings. This frieze, which was
originally decorated with gold and lapis lazuli, was damaged when
Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in Venice, and was restored in the 1920s.
A further floor (the third) rises above this second noble floor,
inspired by the mullioned window on the third floor of the Ca' d'Oro.
This three-storey solution with mullioned window creates an expansion
upwards as well as horizontally.
The courtyard, which measures
940 m², exceeds in size the courtyards of other private houses in
Venice, and is second only to that of the Doge's Palace.
Some
architectural characteristics of Ca' Foscari have been taken from other
buildings belonging to personalities politically close to Francesco
Foscari, such as from the Ca' d'Oro by Michele Contarini
(multi-mullioned window with the ornament of quadrilobes above the
ogival openings and with the solution of semi -quatrefoils at the ends
of the polyfora, typology of the loggia-above-loggia), from the house in
San Vidal of Francesco Barbaro (increase in the height of the second
floor) and from the house in San Polo of the Bernardo family
(superposition of another floor above the second lodge).
Portal
The portal, now the main entrance to Ca' Foscari, is in Istrian stone.
It is framed by checkered friezes and internally by spiral decorations.
It is surmounted by a lunette with an inflected arch, occupied by a
central coat of arms and three putti, two at the sides and one at the
top, the latter in the act of crowning the other two. Inside the coat of
arms, in the upper corner, the lion of Saint Mark is depicted holding up
an open book. When a Napoleonic decree of 1797 abolished the noble coats
of arms, like other coats of arms displayed outside the houses, the coat
of arms was hidden by applying a layer of lime.
Internal
The
entrance hall (or portego) of Ca' Foscari extends between the courtyard
and the water gate.
On the second floor is the Baratto hall,
built during the restoration of 1936 and 1956. The hall was frescoed by
Mario Sironi (Venice, Italy and studies, 1935-1936). The fresco includes
a series of allegorical figures: a student-athlete with a book and
musket, symbol of the Fascist University Groups (GUF), the "Technique",
as a female figure leaning against a wheel, the "Medicine", a female
figure with a caduceus , "Venice" enthroned, to which are added the Lion
of San Marco, the domes of the Basilica of San Marco and the allegory of
the "Motherland", which celebrates the Italian victory in the Ethiopian
war.
A fresco by Mario Deluigi (The school), originally located
on the first floor, which depicts the master of the school of
philosophers surrounded by students, was also moved to the classroom.
The oak floor dates from the 19th century and was restored following
a fire started in 1979 and again in 2004.