Palazzo D'Anna Viaro Martinengo Volpi di Misurata, also known as Palazzo Talenti D'Anna Volpi, is a palace in Venice, located in the San Marco district, overlooking the left side of the Grand Canal, between Palazzo Tron and Casa Marinoni and opposite at Palazzo Donà della Trezza.
As you can guess from the articulated name, this building has changed hands several times throughout its history. Built in the early 16th century at the behest of the Talenti family, it soon passed to the wealthy Flemish merchant Martino D'Anna (van Haanen). The expansion of the building, which took place around the middle of the 17th century, is due to the subsequent owners, the Viaros, an ancient and noble Venetian family. During the eighteenth century the building changed hands again, initially by inheritance to the Venetian patricians Foscarini and subsequently to the Martinengo counts of Brescian origin, while in the nineteenth century it became the property of Count Giovanni Conti who after his death ordered that became a retirement home. In 1917 the entrepreneur Giuseppe Volpi finally became its owner, since 1925 awarded the title of Count of Misurata.
At first glance, the facade of the building appears to be divided
into four sections with two alternating structural typologies, but
looking more closely, one notices that the first section on the left was
later connected to the pre-existing building.
The original palace
was built in the Renaissance style in forms that are common to many
other palaces in the lagoon city. The stone ground floor has a central
water portal and a mezzanine much higher than usual. The structure
develops with a single noble floor with a central quadrifora with a
round arch, an upper cornice and a single small balcony; the side parts
have a pair of single-lancet windows of the same style with a single
balcony, interspersed with a noble coat of arms in relief. The facade
ends with the mezzanine attic with square windows positioned above each
of the windows below; the main floor and the attic mezzanine are divided
by a string course cornice and a high plaster band which originally
housed a fresco by Pordenone, which has now completely disappeared.
The part of the building that was later incorporated, the "quarter"
on the left, almost faithfully follows the central facade of the body of
the building, except for the presence of two water doors and only two
windows in the attic mezzanine.
As for the interiors, the noble
floor is sumptuous thanks also to the presence of period furniture and
paintings. It is accessed through the grand staircase which from the
entrance hall on the ground floor leads to the portego on the main
floor. The ceiling of the large ballroom was triumphantly frescoed at
the behest of Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, in the Tiepolesque
style, by the painter Ettore Tito and along the frieze are indicated the
names of the victorious battles of the Italian army in Tripolitania
during the war in Africa , in reference to his governorship there
between 1921 and 1925.