Into the world of Venetian elegance and luxury...

If you want to understand the world of elegance and luxury in which Venetian patricians lived in the XVIII century you will definitely need to visit Palazzo Mocenigo at San Stae. It is a very pleasant and relaxing experience. You will be standing under great ceiling frescos, admiring a fine selection of costumes and accessories but also furniture and valuable artworks. Mannequins dressed in XVIII century clothing recreate the period atmosphere and seem to take life in this environment surrounded by precious furnishings and paintings, lace and embroidery. You can observe the evolution of fashion and the analogies with the changes in the furniture, you can smell samples of perfumes bases and touch the raw materials. All senses will be involved and you will be transported back to the XVIII century. On the first floor, there are some very intersting rooms - a small room containing 56 waistcoats, a reconstruction of a laboratory of the perfume maker, a library with old books on fashion and beauty and a room where you can sit down and watch a very entertaining short film about the history of perfume (which is shown in different languages).

The Palazzo Mocenigo is a building of Gothic origin rebuilt at the beginning of the XVII century. It was one of the residences of one of the most prestigious families of the Venetian Patriciate that originated 7 Dogi between 1414 and 1778. The palace is the seat of the Study Centre of the History of Fabrics and Costumes and it contains a library specialising in history of fabrics, costumes and fashion.