Ca' da Mosto is one of the oldest buildings in Venice, located in the Cannaregio district and overlooking the Grand Canal not far from the Rialto Bridge. Remodeled numerous times and raised, it has an interesting facade built in part according to the stylistic features of the Venetian-Byzantine style.
Its construction is generally traced back to the 13th century, when
the da Mosto family entered the Venetian patriciate; some, however, find
more ancient elements, in particular in the portego on the water's edge.
It is probable that the client of the building was Marco da Mosto.
In this palace the famous explorer Alvise Cadamosto was born and
died, who from 1454 to 1462 was in Portugal at the service of Henry the
Navigator. From the sixteenth century to the end of the eighteenth
century it was used as a hotel: having become the headquarters of the
Leon Bianco, one of the most famous in Venice, founded in 1661, it
hosted many illustrious personalities. Due to the new needs, the raising
took place with the construction of the top two floors. After a
renovation, the building has become a hotel.
Ca' da Mosto represents one of the best preserved examples of the
Venetian warehouse-house and more generally of the Venetian-Byzantine
architecture that developed in the lagoon city according to the
influence of the oriental style: its value was also admired by John
Ruskin, who described this building as one of the most vigorous Venetian
palaces of the thirteenth century.
Initially, the facade
developed on only two floors and was flanked by towers, called
torreselle: they were demolished when the building was raised by a
further two floors. The building has numerous characteristic elements of
the Venetian warehouse: the portego, designed to connect the land portal
with the water portal, the curia, used for unloading goods from ships,
flanked by a simple water portal and characterized by the succession of
three irregular arches, the mullioned window with loggia on the main
floor. This loggia, originally composed of eight elongated arches with
an inflected extrados (sign of influences from Gothic art), was
transformed into a heptaphor by closing one of the holes: on the top it
has interesting Byzantine marble decorations, such as zoomorphic
paterae, bas-reliefs and friezes. At its sides there are two single
lancet windows, one on each side; all the capitals are inspired by the
Byzantine style. Subsequently, this design was modified by raising it:
the second noble floor is characterized by a simple serliana, flanked by
single-lancet windows with no particular decorative profile.
The
rear facade, of a much simpler character, overlooks a small courtyard:
it has a central three-mullioned window, an external staircase and a
vast vaulted portal on the ground.