Goldoni's home is on a pretty canal

©Jo-Ann Titmarsh/Lonely Planet

Casa di Carlo Goldoni

San Polo & Santa Croce


Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni (1707–93) mastered second and third acts: he was a doctor’s apprentice before switching to law, which proved handy when an opera buffa (comic opera) didn’t sell. But as the 1st-floor display at his birthplace explains, Goldoni had the last laugh with his social satires. There's not really much to see here; the highlight is an 18th-century puppet theatre.