Venice, Italy 02.12.2018. detail of interior in historical Palazzo Grimani building with flying angel statue and wall decorations build in 1556; Shutterstock ID 1287835957; purchase_order: 65050; job: poi; client: ; other:
1287835957

Shutterstock / poludziber

Palazzo Grimani

Venice


The Grimani family built their Renaissance palazzo (mansion) in 1568 to showcase the extraordinary Graeco-Roman sculpture collection of Cardinal Giovanni Grimani. Now the basis of the Museo Correr archaeological section, the antiquities were returned to these theatrical, frescoed halls in May 2019 – after a 430-year absence – on a two-year loan. Gathered from Venetian territories all over the Mediterranean, the sculptures demonstrate the epitome of classical beauty that Renaissance humanists so admired and which the palazzo was designed to highlight.

Unusually for Venice, the palace has a Roman-style courtyard, which sheds a flattering light on the interiors and objects displayed within. There is debate about who designed the building. However, it's certain that Giovanni Grimani (1501–93) himself played a large role in the project, which consciously recalls the glories of ancient Rome. Grimani also hired a dream team of fresco painters specialising in grotesques and Pompeii-style mythological scenes. Francesco Salviati applied the glowing Raphael-style colours he'd used in Rome's Palazzo Farnese, while Roman painter Giovanni da Udine, considered among the brightest pupils of Raphael and Giorgione, devoted three rooms to the stories of Ovid.

Nevertheless, the Sala ai Fogliami (Foliage Room) is the most memorable room. Painted by Mantovano, ceiling and walls are awash with realistic plant- and birdlife. They even include New World species that had only recently been discovered by Europeans, including two that would come to be staples of Venetian life: tobacco and corn.

A combined ticket is available that includes access to Ca' d'Oro.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Venice attractions

1. Fondazione Querini Stampalia

0.03 MILES

In 1869 Conte Giovanni Querini Stampalia made a gift of his ancestral 16th-century palazzo (mansion) to the city on the forward-thinking condition that…

2. Chiesa di Santa Maria Formosa

0.05 MILES

Originally built as a thatch-roofed wooden church in the 7th century, Santa Maria Formosa was refashioned by Mauro Codussi in 1492 with new baroque curves…

3. Ospedaletto

0.14 MILES

This 16th-century church with its facade stacked with muscular caryatids – which the celebrated art critic Ruskin thought ‘the most monstrous example of…

4. Museo delle Icone

0.15 MILES

Glowing colours and all-seeing eyes fill this treasure box of some 80 Byzantine-style icons made in 14th- to 17th-century Italy. Keep your own eye out for…

5. Ocean Space

0.16 MILES

Austrian powerhouse Francesca von Habsburg has restored the epic San Lorenzo church – derelict for nearly a century after suffering damage in WWI – to…

6. Zanipolo

0.16 MILES

Commenced in 1333 but not finished until the 1430s, this vast church is similar in style and scope to the Franciscan Frari in San Polo, which was being…

7. Bartolomeo Colleoni Statue

0.16 MILES

Bartolomeo Colleoni's galloping bronze equestrian statue is one of only two such public monuments in Venice – and an extraordinary example of early…

8. Chiesa di San Giorgio dei Greci

0.17 MILES

Greek Orthodox refugees who fled to Venice from Turkey with the rise of the Ottoman Empire built this church in the 16th century, using taxes collected on…