Ca' Foscari Palace

Venice, Italy

Ca' Foscari, the palace of the Foscari family, is a Gothic building on the waterfront of the Grand Canal in Venice. In 1453 the Republic of Venice regained possession of the older palace and sold it to the Doge of the time, Francesco Foscari; he had the palace demolished and rebuilt in late Venetian gothic style. The building was chosen by the doge for its position on the Grand Canal.

Foscari immediately set about rebuilding the palace in a manner befitting his status: he moved the site of the new palace forward on to the bank of the Grand Canal. Buying and rebuilding the palace for himself meant for the doge affirming his political and military role: he actually represented the continuity of the military successes of that period, lasted 30 years, and was the promoter of the Venetian expansion in the mainland (terraferma). The huge new palace could hardly have been finished when Foscari was disgraced in 1457 and retired to his new home until his death.

Presently the palace is the headquarters of the Ca' Foscari University, which has made accessible to the public some of the most beautiful halls, such as the 'Aula Baratto' and the 'Aula Berengo'.

Ca' Foscari is a typical example of the residence of the Venetian nobles and merchants. The structure is one of the most imposing buildings of the city and its external courtyard is the biggest courtyard of a private house after that of the Doge's Palace. In common with other palaces, Ca' Foscari's principal and most decorated facade and entrance faced the Grand Canal - the city's main thoroughfare. This façade is characterized by a rhythmic sequence of arches and windows; this style, known as Floral Gothic, is emulated throughout the city and can be identified through the use of pointed arches and carved window heads. At Ca' Foscari, the tops of each column are decorated with carved quatrefoil patterns; the Gothic capitals are adorned with foliage, animals and masks. Above the Gothic window is a marble frieze with a helmet surmounted with a lion couchant representing the role of the doge as the captain of the republic; at each side of the central helmet we can find two putti holding a shield symbolising the Foscari's coat of arms with the winged lion of Saint Mark, symbol of Venice.

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Address

Dorsoduro 3246, Venice, Italy
See all sites in Venice

Details

Founded: 1453
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Italy

More Information

en.wikipedia.org
www.unive.it

Rating

3.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Heba Ali (14 months ago)
I was at the hotel restaurant. The food is below average and the waiters are really rude. They behaves specially rude when one person of us on the table( out of four) wanted to only drink coffee and didn’t order food. They started staring at us until we left because they possibly expected us to eat and leave very fast
L Mac (15 months ago)
So rude. Don’t book to stay here. Zero people skills. Hidden costs. Absolute disgrace how they spoke to me for questioning added costs and told me they don’t need my money, and cancelled reservation! Unbelievable really!! P
Kelton Evans (2 years ago)
Pretty good for a 1 star hotel. Sheets and bathrooms were quite clean and there were lots of extra blankets. Check in process was simple and we were able to store our bags. The beds were not overly comfy. Soft and thin feeling. And it was 2 singles made into a double with separate frames. Overall pretty good if you’re on a budget. Good wifi!
K. K. (2 years ago)
Room was spacious, luminous and clean as well as shared bathroom. There were extra blankets, towels and sink in the room. Location was great since there are restaurants, cafes, bars and grocery store near by as well as water bus stop. It's 10-15 minutes walk from Rialto and 25-30 minutes walk from San Marco and on the way you will find many more restaurants, bars, pastry, pizza, clothes shops. So for the price it's excellent.
Emiliya Kandeva (2 years ago)
So this is going to be a long review, but i want to clarify some things. Before booking here i was kinda conserned because of some of the reviews. But yet, this hotel is just a gem in terms of price/service comparison. It is just in 15mins walk from the Train Station. And it is on 5 min walk from S. Toma stop. (they even have a simplfied map on their bussiness cards on the reception.) We found it easy with Google maps navigation. There were some reviews that it was hard to find...but i think everyone with Basic skills of orientation on Google Maps can find it. Stairs are narrow, but all old and vintage hotels in Venice have the same narrow staircases so i dont think that this is a specific disadvantage for this hotel. (ive been in more than 6 different hotels here) So if you have a big luggage you will struggle 6 minutes more the last floor and thats it...its not a big deal. I can admit, electric outlets are far away from the bed (like 1 meter far) but thats also fine :) The Rooms are tidy, vintage. The bathroom is clean as well. We were on the second floor and the wifi was more than good. They also give us keys for the outside door so we can someback wherever we want :) So here is my 5 star review because for the price we paid this hotel is exelent. (We paid around 150€ for 2 nights in double room with personal toilet)
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