Palazzo Dolfin Manin is a palace in the ''

sestiere A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the title of (). Formed a ...

'' of

San Marco San Marco is one of the six sestiere (Venice), sestieri of Venice, lying in the heart of the city as the main place of Venice. San Marco also includes the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Although the district includes Piazza San Marco, Saint Mar ...

on the Canal Grande of Venice, northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is located near the Palazzo Bembo and

Palazzo Dandolo Paolucci Palazzo Dandolo Paolucci is a Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was ...

, not far from the

Rialto Bridge The Rialto Bridge (; ) is the oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Connecting the ' (districts) of San Marco and San Polo, it has been rebuilt several times since its first construction as a pontoon bridge in 1 ...

History

The palace was built by the noble Dolfin family starting from 1536, in order to renovate their previous residence, formed by two separate medieval edifices. The construction cost some 30,000

ducat The ducat ( ) coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide inter ...

s, and was designed by Jacopo Sansovino. A renovation program was carried on under the last Venetian doge,

Ludovico Manin Lodovico Giovanni Manin (; ; 14 May 1725 – 24 October 1802) was a Venetian politician, patrician, and the 120th and last Doge of Venice. He governed the Venetian Republic from 9 March 1789 until its fall in 1797, when he was forced to ...

, who commissioned the works to

Giannantonio Selva Gian Antonio Selva (2 September 1751 - 22 January 1819) was an Italian neoclassical architect. Biography Early career He was born in Venice, the son of scientist Lorenzo Selva. He studied architecture in Venice, and was a pupil of the archite ...

. Ludovico Manin spent here in segregation his last years, after signing the Treaty of Campoformio which ended the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

. His family held the palace until 1867, when it was acquired by the National Bank of the Kingdom of Italy: the latter's successor, the

Banca d'Italia The Bank of Italy (Italian language, Italian: ''Banca d'Italia'', , informally referred to as ''Bankitalia'') is the National central bank (Eurosystem), national central bank for Italy within the Eurosystem. It was the Italian central bank from ...

, has currently its Venetian seat here. The palace underwent several restorations in 1968-1971 and again in 2002.

Description

The façade was realized in 1538-1547 by Jacopo Sansovino, who had also designed the

Palazzo Corner Palazzo Corner della Ca' Granda, also called Ca' Corner della Ca' Granda or simply Palazzo Corner or Palazzo Cornaro, is a Renaissance architecture, Renaissance-style palace located between the ''Casina delle Rose'' and the Rio di San Maurizio (V ...

on the Canal Grande. It is in white

Istrian stone Istrian stone, ''pietra d'Istria'', the characteristic group of building stones in the architecture of Venice, Istria and Dalmatia, is a dense type of impermeable limestone that was quarried in Istria, nowadays Croatia; between Portorož and P ...

and has wide round arcades. The lower floor has six arcades supported by seven pillars, in correspondence of which are the Ionian and Corinthian semicolumns of the upper floors. These have the same number of windows at the sides, while at the center are two quadruple

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

ed windows. The interior houses works by Giovan Battista Tiepolo, who executed them in 1725-1730 or in the 1740s, to celebrate the marriage between Ludovico Manin and Elisabetta Grimani (1748). The palace is completed by an internal courtyard, from which a large staircase leads to the upper floors.

Notes

Sources

* {{Coord, 45.4371, 12.3356, type:landmark_region:IT, display=title Houses completed in 1547 Dolfin Manin Dolfin Manin Renaissance architecture in Venice Jacopo Sansovino buildings 1547 establishments in the Republic of Venice