Palazzo Grimani:
A masterpiece of Renaissance architecture has opened its doors to the public after almost 30 years of restoration.
Palazzo Grimani is a palace in Venice on the Rio di San Luca canal, at the point where it meets the Grand Canal. It was built during the Renaissance and its present appearance dates from 1556-1575. The palace consists of three parts and a small rear courtyard. The facade of the palace is decorated with multi-coloured marble. The highlight of the interior is the “Hall of Psyche”, decorated with frescoes by Francesco Menzocchi, Camilo Mantovano and Francesco Salviati. Also involved in the decoration of the palace were Taddeo Zuccaro and Giovanni da Udine.
It was originally built for the doge Antonio Grimani. After his death, between 1532 and 1569, it was successively rebuilt by the Doge’s heirs, first Vittore Grimani, Procurator General of the city, and then Giovanni Grimani, Cardinal and Patriarch of Aquileia.
The latter was presumably commissioned by Michele Sanmicheli.
The palace was finally completed in 1575 by Giovanni Rusconi. The door portal was designed by Alessandro Vittoria.
The Grimani family of Santa Maria Formosa boasts worthy representatives – Doge Antonio, elected to this honourable position at a very advanced age, his grandson Giovanni Grimani patriarch of Aquileia – a great lover of antiquities.
This palace does not fit the standard of Venetian mansions, neither in its structure nor in its decoration. But there are plenty of pleasant surprises and revelations: from the Roman-inspired courtyard, to the palace’s grand staircase, to the handiwork of the decorator Federico Zuccari – who, at Villa D’Este in Tivoli, on the outskirts of Rome, talentedly painted the living rooms of the villa’s master, Cardinal D’Este.
Harmony and splendour accompany the visitor from room to room, and in the room of the nymph Callisto you can philosophise on mythology and the cosmos.
The Bosch Room is not to be missed. Don’t be surprised, it’s not a typo, Grimani’s passion for Nordic art has enriched the family collection with four works by Bosch.
Open all days except Monday, 24 December, 1 January, 1 May.
