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A 15th Century jewel in a magical city, where the building’s history intertwines with that of the Famiglia Sagredo, one of the most prominent in The Republic, whose destiny was bounded to the Doges and the city itself.
This palace was originally owned by the Morosini family and was purchased at the start of the 18th century by Sagredos, a noble family who had lived in the Santa Sofia district for centuries.
The façade onto the Grand Canal is proof of the Byzantine origin of the building, which was altered several times in subsequent centuries.
The original ground floor, with the doors leading onto the water, and the first floor with its tall windows topped on slim pillars, were completed in the 14th century by the addition of second floor, which has tracery frieze around the middle mullioned windows of the portego or central hall.
On purchasing the palace, the Procurator of St. Mark Gherardo Sagredo had it renovated to make it suitable for the social standing of this family. He ordered the architect Andrea Tirali to design a grandiose indoor staircase to replace the long since demolished outdoor Gothic stairway. He had the walls of the new staircase decorated by Pietro Longhi in 1734 with a fresco representing The Fall of the Giants, inspired by Giulio Romano’s Battle of the Giants for the Palazzo del Tè in Mantua.
At the same time, the interior was luxuriously covered by Abbondio Strazio and Carpoforo Mazzetti Tecalla with stucco work, much of which is still palace. The same artists also created the decorations in the alcove, an exceptional example of a purely rococo-style bedroom, now preserved at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
As the father of two daughters who married into rich and noble familiars (the Pisanis of Santo Stefano and the Barbarigos) and being the last male heir in his lineage, on his death Gherardo left his palace to the wealthiest branch of the Sagredos family, arranging in his will for the façade to be restored according to the plan of the architect Tommaso Temanza.
But the legal battle that ensued among the various braches of the Sagredo family considerably delayed the execution of this will, to such a degree that by the Santa Ternita branch of the family gained possession of the inheritance, the fall of the Republic was already drawing near. Because of the great noble families, the palace remained as it was.
The surname Sagredo is a corrupted from of the world “secret”, as the family was said to be secret advisors to the emperor.
They boasted remote Roman origins having been governors of Dalmatia who apparently arrived in Venice in the ninth century. There they joined the Great Council in 1100 as a results of their restoring the city of Sibenik to obedience to the Republic.
The Santa Sofia branch of the family included one Giovanni, chancellor and treasurer of the Republic, who acted as ambassador to the court of Louis XIV, where he managed to obtain support for Venice’s war in Crete and the personal privilege of adding the French lilies to his family’s coat of arms.
Later, during another diplomatic mission to England, he was so successful that, on the renewal of the treaty of friendship between Venice and England in 1655, he was elected Procurator.
The imposing staircase constructed by Tirali and frescoed by Longhi leads up to the portego with its huge paintings carried out between 1770 and 1780 by Andrea Urbani; these were great landscape contained in sumptuous stucco frames with over the doors.
A number of rooms lead off from the portego, many of which are decorated with very refined and elegant stucco work by Abbondio Stazio and Carpoforo Mazzetti Tecalla, who were also responsible for decorating the place’s mezzanine floor.
The ballroom is particularly interesting: as in other examples of the period, it extends to a height of two floors and is decorated with a series of illusionistic architectural frescoes containing two chiaroscuro figures representing Minerva and Venus, the work of Belluno artist Gaspare Diziani.
This palace was originally owned by the Morosini family and was purchased at the start of the 18th century by Sagredos, a noble family who had lived in the Santa Sofia district for centuries.
The façade onto the Grand Canal is proof of the Byzantine origin of the building, which was altered several times in subsequent centuries.
The original ground floor, with the doors leading onto the water, and the first floor with its tall windows topped on slim pillars, were completed in the 14th century by the addition of second floor, which has tracery frieze around the middle mullioned windows of the portego or central hall.
On purchasing the palace, the Procurator of St. Mark Gherardo Sagredo had it renovated to make it suitable for the social standing of this family. He ordered the architect Andrea Tirali to design a grandiose indoor staircase to replace the long since demolished outdoor Gothic stairway. He had the walls of the new staircase decorated by Pietro Longhi in 1734 with a fresco representing The Fall of the Giants, inspired by Giulio Romano’s Battle of the Giants for the Palazzo del Tè in Mantua.
At the same time, the interior was luxuriously covered by Abbondio Strazio and Carpoforo Mazzetti Tecalla with stucco work, much of which is still palace. The same artists also created the decorations in the alcove, an exceptional example of a purely rococo-style bedroom, now preserved at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
As the father of two daughters who married into rich and noble familiars (the Pisanis of Santo Stefano and the Barbarigos) and being the last male heir in his lineage, on his death Gherardo left his palace to the wealthiest branch of the Sagredos family, arranging in his will for the façade to be restored according to the plan of the architect Tommaso Temanza.
But the legal battle that ensued among the various braches of the Sagredo family considerably delayed the execution of this will, to such a degree that by the Santa Ternita branch of the family gained possession of the inheritance, the fall of the Republic was already drawing near. Because of the great noble families, the palace remained as it was.
The surname Sagredo is a corrupted from of the world “secret”, as the family was said to be secret advisors to the emperor.
They boasted remote Roman origins having been governors of Dalmatia who apparently arrived in Venice in the ninth century. There they joined the Great Council in 1100 as a results of their restoring the city of Sibenik to obedience to the Republic.
The Santa Sofia branch of the family included one Giovanni, chancellor and treasurer of the Republic, who acted as ambassador to the court of Louis XIV, where he managed to obtain support for Venice’s war in Crete and the personal privilege of adding the French lilies to his family’s coat of arms.
Later, during another diplomatic mission to England, he was so successful that, on the renewal of the treaty of friendship between Venice and England in 1655, he was elected Procurator.
The imposing staircase constructed by Tirali and frescoed by Longhi leads up to the portego with its huge paintings carried out between 1770 and 1780 by Andrea Urbani; these were great landscape contained in sumptuous stucco frames with over the doors.
A number of rooms lead off from the portego, many of which are decorated with very refined and elegant stucco work by Abbondio Stazio and Carpoforo Mazzetti Tecalla, who were also responsible for decorating the place’s mezzanine floor.
The ballroom is particularly interesting: as in other examples of the period, it extends to a height of two floors and is decorated with a series of illusionistic architectural frescoes containing two chiaroscuro figures representing Minerva and Venus, the work of Belluno artist Gaspare Diziani.
