Palazzo Giustinian is a palace in Venice located in the Dorsoduro
district, with land access in Campiello dei Squellini near San Barnaba
and overlooking the Grand Canal next to Ca'
Foscari; like the latter it is among the best expressions of late
Venetian Gothic.
It is a unitary building, despite being more
properly made up of two twin buildings: the building on the right, which
houses rooms of the "Ca' Foscari" University, is known as "Ca'
Giustinian dei Vescovi", from the name of the branch of that family who
lived there; the other (property of the noble Friulian family Brandolini
D'Adda) as "Ca' Giustinian dalle Zogie" (jewels, jewels).
The twin buildings were built in the second half of the 15th century,
around 1452, probably with the participation of Bartolomeo Bon and
Giovanni Bon. They were commissioned by the prestigious and very ancient
Giustinian family. Even then they were intended for the two branches of
the family, and only after a certain time were they united and
harmonized through the central part of the facade.
A major
renovation was carried out by Giuseppe Darù, owner of the building near
the Ca'Foscari. Sold in the 19th century, the painter Natale Schiavoni
lived there, who installed a valuable art collection there, and the
composer Richard Wagner, who composed the second act of Tristan and
Isolde between 1858 and 1859. The latter stayed in the palace for seven
months: it was the first of his Venetian trips. Also in this period the
rear garden was enriched by a dense artificial grove, one of the largest
among those present in Venice.
Another illustrious guest of the
building was the American novelist William Dean Howells who was consul
in Venice from 1861 to 1865. In 1866 he published the work Venetian life
as a memoir of his experiences in the city. The Hungarian violinist
Franz von Vecsey also lived there from 1925 to 1935 and he remembers how
the gondoliers brought tourists under his windows to let them listen to
the violinist playing.
The buildings, which develop on an L-shaped plan on four floors,
share many decorative elements of the facade with Ca' Foscari. The
entire prospectus, measuring forty-four meters and developed almost
entirely symmetrically with respect to the central axis, seems to have
been created with the specific purpose of giving the building
architectural compactness, which is still perceived as the fusion of two
buildings, contrary to what happens for Palazzo Bembo. The lack of
compactness on the facade is due to the plan of the building itself. The
central axis on the ground floor is no longer something purely
geometric, but becomes the third water portal, the central one, which
gives access to the calle behind, which separates the two buildings and
their respective courts.
Each of the two buildings has central
mullioned windows to illuminate the porteghi (main halls for
receptions): the first and last floor have simple four-light windows,
while the main noble floor, the second, is decorated with a
decentralized exaphora marked by the famous motif with intertwined
arches with quadrilobe. More properly, the hexaphores are not
decentralized, but arranged symmetrically with respect to another axis,
namely the one drawn by the central portal. The single lancet windows
that surround the central multi-lancet windows have an ogive or trefoil
arch, with apical flowers; two larger single-lancet windows on the
second floor have elaborate fretwork with hanging capitals. These, with
the marble septum under the arch pierced with hanging arches, create "a
tighter and more continuous architectural phrasing", as Umberto Francoi
said. Others, agreeing with this view of the facts, point out that a
much deeper structure than a single room does not develop behind these
holes. Of extraordinary value are the capitals with cherub heads. The
edges are decorated with a sawtooth motif made of Istrian stone. The
purpose of this frame seems to be to give compactness to the structure.
As far as the plan is concerned, this seems determined by precise
logistical and building reasons linked to the lot, the boundaries and
the personal needs of the two families that could be accommodated there.
In particular, it was necessary to build two courtyards, two staircases
and two entrances. The courtyards have merlons that imitate medieval
ones. In particular, each of the two buildings does not have a single
courtyard, but two, as each of the two has a central courtyard and a
larger garden at the back. The latter two are very different: Palazzo
Giustinian dei Vescovi has at the back a courtyard surrounded by Lombard
columns with Ionic capitals, characterized by a Gothic staircase, on
which the Restauratum 1902. Helen d'Aubery plaque is placed, while Ca'
Giustinian dalle Zogie it has not only a courtyard, but also a large
garden with a well curb. Once there were two stairways, both closed like
a loggia.
The interiors of the Palazzo dei Vescovi are
characterized by the presence of a large portego decorated with stuccos,
with plafonds made by Giovan Battista Cedini and with a frieze
representing the faces of various artists. The portego of the southern
body instead presents coats of arms of the ancient owner family, with
gilded frames.