Palazzo Savorgnan is an architecture of Venice, located in the Cannaregio district and overlooking the Cannaregio canal, to the right of Palazzo Manfrin Venier.
Built in the 17th century for the noble Savorgnan family, it is a project by Giuseppe Sardi (late Baroque author of the nearby Palazzo Surian Bellotto), clearly inspired by Baldassare Longhena. However, the architectural scholar Elena Bassi admits that the construction may have been completed by Antonio Gasperi due to the similarity of this building with Ca' Zenobio degli Armeni.
In 1788 Palazzo Savorgnan was the victim of a serious fire, which
damaged many parts (including perhaps the huge eighteenth-century dormer
window which disfigured its appearance) starting a deterioration that
lasted at least until the purchase of the structure by the Galvagna, in
1826. This family kept a vast art gallery, with works by Palma il
Vecchio and other great Venetian artists, which, however, was dispersed
in 1855 following an auction (many works from the Galvagna collection
are kept in the National Gallery of London).
In the early years
of the 20th century the building was transformed into a female college,
while in 1968 it passed to the Province of Venice. Currently in good
condition, it houses the "Francesco Algarotti" technical institute for
tourism
The large facade is arranged in four levels, designed by string
courses. On the ground floor, with an ashlar surface, there is a simple
rectangular portal in the centre, flanked by single lancet windows. This
portal leads to the large colonnaded portego.
The two noble
floors all have openings in stone frames equipped with masks and
balustrades: a large serliana in the center and two arched single-lancet
windows on the sides. The second floor has two large sculptures
representing coats of arms. The third floor, in fact an attic mezzanine,
has a hole pattern symmetrical to that of the other floors, made up of
smaller single-lancet windows of a quadrangular shape.
A recent
restoration of the facade overlooking the Cannaregio stream by the
Province of Venice, owner of the architectural complex, has brought to
light the stone and wall structures of the work, revealing the operating
methods of the workers of the time. In particular, the ways in which the
stone frames and masks were anchored emerged, fixed not only through a
joint with the wall structure but also with metal clamps forged on site.
Other metal structures were used to fix the main beams to the masonry of
the mezzanine thus creating an architectural structure that collaborates
as a whole (main facades, master masons, roofs, attics).
On the
back of the building there is a vast garden, still well preserved,
which, together with the garden of Palazzo Manfrin Venier, has been made
a public park. During the 19th century it was affected by various
interventions: the one carried out in 1802 by Pietro Chezia and the one
designed by the hand of Baron Galvagna who, inspired by the genre of the
English garden, had various farmhouses demolished to obtain new spaces
and be able to build paths, slopes, hills and thickets.