Ca' Dario

The building was commissioned in 1479 to the architect Pietro Lombardo by Giovanni Dario, a Dalmatian bourgeois. At his death, the Palace passed to the Barbaro family, who remained in its possession until the nineteenth century. Ca' Dario is often described as one of the buildings most characteristic of Venice. In 1908, Claude Monet used it as a subject for a series of paintings typically Impressionists. One of the latest restoration, accommodation and furnishing of the interior, was executed in 1977 by Giorgio Pes, decorator of the film "The Gattopardo". The slender, asymmetrical facade on the Grand Canal, hangs on its side due to a structural failure and presents elements clearly of Renaissance. It is completely decorated with polychrome marble and Istrian stone, alternating in eighty circular medallions. The ground floor has two single and a portal to water, while each of the upper floors is lit by a four-and a lancet. The chimneys, in Venetian style, are among the few surviving original copies of the period to date. The neo-Gothic balcony was added in the nineteenth century. Internally, the building is characterized by a large hall with a pit made marble, a finely decorated marble staircase leading to the main floors and an indoor fountain inspired by the Orient, placed in a room that reflects the Moorish style. The rear facade, Gothic-looking, appears uneven, with characteristic red tint. The beautiful architectural of Ca' Dario contrasts with its reputation as a "Doom Palace", conferred by the tragic fate that has united many of its owners, went bust or died violently.