Venice visit-Canal Grande-Left bank-More palaces up to San Marco-The end

Embarking
on vaporetto
no.1
   

Santa Maria
della
Salute-
Peggy
Guggenheim
story
  

 Peggy
Guggenheim
museum
of modern
art

 Galleria
dell
Accademia

From Accademia to Palazzo Mocenigo

Eating Venice and wine bars

Four days diary of a great love

hotel recommendations

Venice main page

Canal Grande main page

Rialto Bridge

The Rialto market

From Rialto to Palazzo Labia

From Fondaco dei Turchi to Palazzo Tiepolo Papadopoli

From Ca' Loredan to Ca' Rezzonico

Ca' Rezzonico to San Marco-End of Canal palaces

The second palace after Rio Malpaga is the PALAZZO LOREDAN, a gothic construction with a particularly elegant Renaissance façade (1536). Don Carlos di Borbone, pretending to the throne of Spain lodged there at the end of the 19th century. It is also called "dell' Ambasciatore" because it was the residence of the Roman ambassadors in the 18th century. 

Contarini dagla Scrigni

Just a quick look at the next palazzo: the PALAZZO CONTARINI DAGLA SCRIGNI, a doublepalace. The first scheduled by in 1610 by Vincenzo Scamozzi to enlarge the second. This second palace was refurbished in the 17th century by Francesco Smeraldi. The palazzo housed a fabulous painting collection, bequeathed in 1838 to the Accademia museum, which is not far anymore. 
After a 3 minute walk along the Canal, here we are back at the Ponte dell' Accademia. Let's cross it and walk further down the Canal to visit the few remaining palaces.
PALAZZO BARBARO is our next stop. Another double palace, practically identical and built for the same family! They are all over the place! The right one was built in the 17th, the left, gothic (14-15th) s the home of Isabelle d'Este, spouse of the marchese di Mantova. Notice that a lot of famous artists lived here when it was owned by an American family from Boston, the Curtis family. I figure that names like Claude Monet, John Singer Sargent, Robert Browning, Whistler and Henry James (who wrote his novel, "The Aspern Papers") mean something to you. 

Palazzo Corner Ca' Grande

Next to it the PALAZZO CORNER DELLA CA' GRANDE, an impressive (Ca' Grande means big house!) but pretty classicist-Renaissance palazzo built by Sansovino for the wealthy Corner family between 1532 and 1561. Yes, this means almost 30 years. The interior is sumptuous and is the siege of the Venetian prefecture. Bad tongues say that the Corner family built this impressive palace only to block the view of the Ca' Venier dei Leoni, house of their worst enemies. 

Palazzo Gritti

Next the PALAZZO GRITTI, today the famous, sumptuous hotel Gritti. . Originally a gothic edifice of the15th century whose façade was enhanced by sculptures of Giorgione. It is incredible how beautiful this building is as well as its waterside as on the side of the Campo Santa Maria del Giglio. It belonged to the doge Andrea Gritti, multilingual and shroud politician, successful military commander and famous woman chaser. (You see there is nothing new under the sun!). A well beloved guest here was Somerset Maugham who wrote on its terrace "Few things are equally wonderful as sitting here, while the sun goes down and immerse the Canal in bright colours". Hemingway also was a "habitué" in this hotel. Behind the palace, in profile, a church bearing the same name.

Contarini Fasan

PALAZZO CONTARINI FASAN, fourth façade after the Rio Alberto, facing the Santa Maria della Salute on the other bank, is a smaller edifice, richly decorated with flamboyant gothic architectural elements (1475). Notice the drawings on the first floor, very interesting. The legend (or truth?) says that this palazzo was the birthplace of Desdemona, seducing daughter of a Venetian senator, who later married the very jealous Othello.
The last palace that we visit in this very long series will be the PALAZZO GIUSTINIAN-LOLIN. A large, a bit monotone façade, connecting in fact two gothic 15th century palaces. Its construction is an early work of Longhena in 1623; in fact he refurbished an old gothic 14th century building. This palace is also known as one of the many places Richard Wagner stayed to compose its Tristan und Isolde. 
Next series about the most visited part of Venice. The San Marco area. 

Bibliography

The Companion guide to Venice, by Hugh Honour-Venice and its lagoon, by Giulio Lorenzetti, Venice-A thousand Years of Culture and Civilisation, by Peter Lauritzen-Heures Italiennes, by Henry James (La difference 1985)- Venice, a Literary Companion, by Ian Littlewood's 
The World of Venice, by Jan Morris.