CA' D'ORO

CA' D'ORO

Ca' D'Oro (correctly Palazzo Santa Sofia) is one of the finest examples of Venetian Gothic architecture (the Bon brothers' Venetian floral Gothic style). It was built in the XV century by the Bon brothers (1428-1430) at the request of the Contarini family who provided Venice with eight dogi between 1043 and 1676. Upon election, each doge would leave his own palazzo and take up residence within Palazzo Ducale. Ca' d'oro itself is situated roughly at the midway point of Canal Grande with the loggia providing an elevated view of the world famous Mercato di Rialto. Its name, Golden House, refers to the gilt covered facade that as with so much of Venice's glorious past has become the decadent old lady we know today. Napoleon's sweep into Italy and a brokered deal with Austria in 1797 led to the fall of the Venetian Republic after more than a thousand years which led to Ca' d'Oro exchanging hands frequently. One 19th century owner, the Russian prince Troubetzkoi, gave the palace as a gift to the famous ballet dancer Marie Taglioni. According to their taste and to the fashion of the century, they removed the stairways, the stunning ornate balconies, the well and most of the columns and floors. It now houses the extensive art collection that in 1916 the last private owner, Baron Giorgio Franchetti (1865-1922), donated to the state and some additional pieces that have been added over the years. In 1894, Franchetti bought the palace for 170.000 lire with the project to bring it back to its XV century appearance. He made a deal with the State that he would donate the palace if they would help him financially to restore it. Here, it is possible to admire works of the Venetian, Tuscan and Flemish school. Among the works, you can admire Venus with a Mirror (1550) and Judith (or the Justice) by Titian (1509), Tintoretto, Carpaccio, Francesco Botticini, Tiepolo, Giorgione, Saint Sebastian by Mantegna (1506), Sleeping Venus with Cupid (1540) by Bordone Paris, Francesco Guardi, Marcello Durazzo portrait by Antonie van Dyck, van Eyck, Adam Elsheimer, Jan Fyt.

PALAZZO CORNER LOREDAN PISCOPIA (Rialto)

PALAZZO CORNER LOREDAN PISCOPIA


This palace located on the Canal Grande just after Rialto bridge is now the site of the Municipio di Venezia. Its story is fascinating.

In the XIV century, Pietro Lusignano, king of Cyprus, asked Federico Corner for help as his island was under the threat from the Ottoman Empire and he had no money nor army. In 1363, he was Federico's guest in this palace and in exchange for the 70.000 ducats that Federico gave him, Pietro donated to him the title of Sword Knight and Cypriot manor of Piscopia. Here, the Corner family was growing and refining sugar cane with total exemption from the taxes for many years until 1571when Cyprus was taken by the Turks and the family had to leave the island.
In Cyprus, Caterina Cornaro who was from Venice and belonged to the Cornaro family from the line of San Cassiano, was Queen of the island for 15 years, between 1474 and 1489, after the death of her husband Giacomo II Lusignano, the King of Cyprus and Armenia.

Two centuries later, in this palace lived Elena Lucrezia Corner Piscopia, one of Caterina Cornaro's relatives. Her father, Giovanni Battista, Procurator of St. Mark, married a plebeian woman Zanetta (Giovanna) Boni and had five children with her. He was a man of power and high culture (his grandfather Giacomo Alvise was also a man of high culture and he was friend with Galileo Galilei) but because of this marriage his children were initially denied the entry in the Golden Book of Patricians of Venice. But Giovanni Battista did not give up and eventually succeeded in having his children's names recorded in the book.He also succeeded in supporting his daughter Elena in her studies, providing the best teachers for her since when she was only seven year old.
In 1678, when Elena was 32, she was the first woman in the world to get a university degree. Her degree was in philosophy in the cathedral in Padua, with a dissertation about Aristotle's Analytics and Physics. Elena studied many other subjects (theology, maths and astronomy) and she was known as "Oraculum Septiligue" as she could speak Ancient Greek, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Spanish, French and Arabic. She became a maths lecturer at the university in Padua. Later she became a Benedictine Oblate and dedicate the rest of her short life to ministering to the poor.

Link su Elena Lucrezia Cornaro http://babilonia61.com/tag/giovanni-battista-cornaro-piscopia/

http://www.answers.com/topic/elena-cornaro-piscopia

La Befana!!!

I really miss la Befana! In London nobody even knows what la Befana is and to make it easier and faster for people to understand I just say that she is a sort of Santa's wife...She comes at night, on the 5th January night, and usually brings stocking filled with sweets for the kids. Sometimes even a gift! Please read the explanation and the detail in this blog.

http://theveniceexperience.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/panevin-and-la-befana.html?m=1