Palazzo dei Camerlenghi is a Renaissance palace in Venice located in the San Polo district and overlooking the Grand Canal, at the foot of the Rialto bridge.
It was built between 1525 and 1528 to a design by Guglielmo dei Grigi, inspired by the Codussi and the Lombardos. It was the seat of financial magistracies, among which the Camerlenghi, the Consoli dei Mercanti and the Sopraconsoli dei Mercanti. Given this important economic function, the ground floor of the building was intended as a prison for insolvent debtors, as evidenced by the toponym Fondamenta de la presón. This display of prisoners in the middle of the Rialto served as a severe warning to those passing by. Today it has returned to hosting finance courts, as the seat of the regional section of the Court of Auditors.
The building develops with a pentagonal plan to follow the curve of
the Grand Canal and, in height, on three floors. It has high arched
windows separated by pilasters and crowned by interesting friezes. As a
state "coffer" it was enriched externally with polychrome marble and
porphyry, lost over time.
It was a tradition of the Serenissima
that a magistrate, upon completing his office, left a gift of a painting
of a religious subject with a portrait of him or with his coat of arms.
Palazzo dei Camerlenghi was therefore very rich in works of art, before
they were dispersed throughout Europe under the Kingdom of Italy;
fortunately many of them have returned to Venice, even if not in this
palace.