Palazzo Loredan overlooks Campo Santo Stefano, in the San Marco
district in Venice. Before the acquisition by the Loredan family in 1536
and the restoration by the architect Antonio Abbondi, it was a group of
adjacent buildings, in Gothic style, belonging to the Mocenigo family.
The purchased buildings were substantially restored and made into a
single building for the residence of a patrician family.
After
the fall of the Serenissima, the last heir of the Loredans sold the
building to a businessman in 1802-1805.
In 1813 the building was
purchased by the Royal Property, it will become the seat of the Ministry
of War with its military court and the Governor's residence.
Between 1855 and 1862 the building became the seat of the provincial
public construction office. On this occasion radical works will be
carried out to adapt the south wing of the office building. For this
reason a mezzanine was built on the main floor.
In 1888 the
building was assigned as the seat of the Veneto Institute of Sciences,
Letters and Arts which moved there in 1891. On this occasion numerous
restoration and furnishing works were carried out.
Originally in the Gothic style, it currently has a narrower front that occupies most of the length of Campo Santo Stefano and a smaller but richer facade. The mullioned window on the long side is made up of 8 windows and nine Corinthian columns. The side facing Campiello Loredan reveals the previous architectural style. The richest facade is the one that looks towards the church of Santo Stefano formed by a majestic stone front that recalls the style of the long side, by Giovanni Gerolamo Grapiglia. Inside you can see the large entrance hall created using many of the elements belonging to the houses that previously stood on site. The capitals of the columns are of Gothic origin and therefore probably reused. To create this entrance hall, with the double staircase leading to the noble floor, the external portico that was between two buildings was closed with a wall, you can still see the well curb with the Mocenigo coat of arms inside. The splendid monumental staircase, which recalls the Scala dei Giganti of Palazzo Ducale, was executed by Antonio Abbondi. The exterior of the building in the 1500 restoration version provided for the fresco of the long part of the building with motifs from the Tuscan-Roman Mannerist taste. The artist who painted them is Giuseppe Porta known as Salviati. The frescoes exalted the domestic, civic and military virtues of characters from the Roman world such as: Lucrezia, Clelia, Porsenna and Muzio Scevola. The latter was boasted as the mythical progenitor of the Loredan family.
On the ceiling of a room on the mezzanine it is possible to see
canvases by Jacopo Palma il Giovane and Antonio Vassilacchi dating back
to the 1600s. The four paintings, depicting scenes from the Old
Testament, were probably moved from other rooms in the building in the
1800s.
In 1752, on the occasion of Francesco Loredan's election
as Doge, a room on the noble floor was frescoed. The fresco is
attributed to Giuseppe Angeli and the quadrature to Francesco Zanchi.
Still in the same room, the ornamental stuccoes are instead attributed
to Giuseppe Ferrari.
Of notable interest is also the fresco by
Giovanni Carlo Bevilacqua entitled Napoleonic allegory. This painting
was recently restored after the Germans attempted to destroy it in 1814.
The Pantheon was created in 1847 when, on the occasion of the IX Congress of Italian Scientists, the Veneto Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts asked to form a collection of images, in the form of busts or medallions, of the great Venetians, those who distinct in their profession (politicians, scientists, artists, soldiers, writers, etc.) lived for a long time in the Veneto from ancient times to the eighteenth century. The busts and medallions that form the Pantheon Veneto were removed from Palazzo Ducale in 1955, deposited in Ca' Pesaro and finally received in 1989 at the Venetian Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts in the Palazzo Loredan headquarters, where they can currently be seen exhibited in the hall. The project begun in 1847 ended in 1931: the last bust added to the collection was that of Carlo Gozzi.
On the centenary of his appointment as President of the Council of Ministers, a room was dedicated to Luigi Luzzatti, thanks to donations from Banca Popolare di Verona of which Luzzatti had been President. The room displays photographs, documents, personal objects and furnishings that belonged to the scholar and statesman. The room displays an oil portrait of Dieudonné Jacobs and a bronze bust portraying Luzzatti, various sculptures, medals, plaques, honors and the seat of a deputy. Also on display are the desk and armchair from the Roman house.