Palazzo Foscari
The
Palazzo Foscari (known in Venice as
Ca' Foscari) was built on the waterfront of
Venice's
Grand Canal circa
1452 by the
Doge Francesco Foscari, who required its design to demonstrate his wealth and power. Ca' Foscari stands on a bend in the Grand Canal known as the 'Volta'; it is one of a trio of architecturally distinguished palazzi there, the other two being
Ca' Balbi, built in
1590, and
Ca' Giustinian built circa
1452.
Today, while Ca' Foscari has lost - through that decay which adds to the charm of modern Venice - much of its original splendour, its architectural merits are still a fine example of the florid
Byzantine-inspired
gothic architecture that distinguishes so many of the palazzi lining the Grand Canal built during the
Renaissance period.
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Venice as theater: Ca' Foscari (right) is covered in canvas trompe l'oeil reproducing the actual facade, to disguise the renovation work currently being executed. |
The
piano nobile, the main reception floor, is distinguished by a large eight-arch
loggia, that is doubled in the
second piano nobile immediately above it. The tracery ornamentation of the columns and arches of the loggias are executed in the same quatrefoil
gothic style as the loggias of both the
Doge's Palace and
Ca d'Oro. Each of the loggias is flanked by two ogee topped windows ornamented with the same design of tracery. This gives the palazzo a symmetry not common to all other palazzi of this period on the Grand Canal.
The building has had a troubled history: during the 19th-century
Austrian occupation, it was used as a barrack. From this time the building has suffered successive neglect: nothing today remains of the opulent plaster and stucco work that once covered the exterior. Nor does anything remain of the ornate exterior staircases which once gave access to the piano nobile from the courtyard.
The palazzo, today housing the departments of economics and foreign languages of the
University of Venice, underwent a restoration from 1997 to 2005.
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Satellite image from Google Maps (on the left bank of the Grand Canal, just south of the junction with the Rio Foscari canal)
