Venice is a surprisingly multifaceted city, rich in its history, which has seen its ups and downs. Among all this, there was a place for the history of the cursed Palazzo Dario. The story is so famous that the artist Claude Monet was interested in it, and venerable writers dedicated their works to it... But I have not heard the answer to this story. Maybe you know her? It’s easy to miss a lot in the information flow. In the meantime, here’s a story about what cast such a dark shadow over one of the most unusual palazzos in Venice.


Almost no building in Venice was mentioned in Donna Leon’s detective stories, including Palazzo Dario:
Brunetti stood in the same place for a minute, then went to one of the windows and lifted the curtain. The Grand Canal stretched below, the sun's reflections played on the water, reflected on the walls of Palazzo Dario located to the left; the golden tiles from which the mosaic was made on the façade of the palace caught the light emanating from the water; breaking up into many sparks, it again rushed down to the canal. Boats sailed by as time passed.
Donna Leon, "Counting in Venetian"

The little red dot on the map is Palazzo Dario:

First, some help from Wiki:

Ca" Dario or Palazzo Dario (Italian: Ca" Dario, Palazzo Dario) is a palace in Venice, in the Dorsoduro district. One side faces the Grand Canal, the other faces Barbaro Square. Opposite the palace is the marina of Santa Maria de Giglio. The palace is a magnificent example of Renaissance architecture. The mosaic facade made of colored marble attracts attention. The palace was built in 1487. Among the owners of the mansion was the French poet Henri de Regnier, who lived here at the end of the 19th century. The palace is also famous for the fact that one of the weddings of the famous film director Woody Allen took place here. The palace has a bad reputation as a cursed house. The owners of the mansion were repeatedly subjected to violence, became bankrupt or committed suicide. The last death occurred in 1993, when one of Italy's richest industrialists shot himself here after a corruption scandal broke out. In 2005, German writer Petra Reske published the best-selling book Palazzo Dario.
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%27_%D0%94%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BE

Here are quotes from the said book by Petra Reschi (slightly abbreviated and highlighted in blue) and we will continue the story about Palazzo Dario. I will add my notes to the quotes in black.

“More precisely, they call him “Ka Dario,” said Wanda’s traveling companion. – Previously, all the palaces in Venice were called “Ca”, from casa, and only the Doge’s Palace was called a palazzo, Palazzo Ducale. But today things are looked at more broadly. You are surprised, signorina, aren't you? Yes, there is a lot that foreigners don’t know. Just imagine, one American woman recently asked me why the city is so flooded with water. I answered her: “Signora, this is how we wash the streets.”

The map shows the small Palazzo Dario in the center and other palazzos nearby:

Reschi's book details the curse of the palazzo and how it affected its inhabitants. Here are just a few brief mentions:

“I mean the curse,” he replied, somewhat annoyed that she had interrupted him. “The palazzo where your uncle lives brings bad luck.” Many Venetians say that Palazzo Dario especially does not like businessmen, but, on the contrary, saves artists. We Venetians always try to find a pattern in everything. But she's not here. Massimo Miniato, for example, was a businessman and survived in this palace. And the antiques dealer Fabio delle Fenestrelle, on the contrary, in my opinion, was more of an artist. The only pattern that I see here is that misfortune, like powdery mildew, falls on each of its inhabitants. Very few survived and left the palace themselves.

– The first tenant of Ka Dario, as far as I remember, was the American Robert Boulder. After him there was Fabio delle Fenestrelle. He ran an antique store. After him there was a hippie, Mick Swinton, he was the manager of the rock band What. Then Massimo Miniato Sassoferato, financier, as he called himself, whatever that means. And then Aldo Vergato. The richest man in Italy. You've heard about him, of course. Even Ka Dario didn't bring him happiness, that's for sure. Oh yeah, I probably forgot to mention that none of them survived in Palazzo Dario. That is, there was one who survived, but he was also unlucky. And these are only those who have lived there in the last fifty years. If you think about the fact that the palazzo is over five hundred years old, who knows what scenes were played out there that we know nothing about.

“In Ka Dario,” the gentleman answered, “they always celebrated something, at all times.” I think there is hardly another palazzo in which so much fun was had. During the times of Mick Swinton and Miniato, the parties boomed one after another. “Kilograms of cocaine. These were not holidays, these were orgies." “Bras and panties were flying out of the windows,” said taxi drivers who were forced to stand below the pier all night long.

– During Vergato’s time, Ca Dario was calm. And after his death, the house was empty for quite a long time; no one dared to buy it, although the price was quite reasonable. In my opinion, at first this American director became interested in him. He just had a burning desire, ten billion more for a Renaissance palazzo on the world famous Grand Canal - it’s just a gift. He always comes to Venice with his wife on New Year's Eve and stays at the Hotel Gritti just opposite Ca Dario. Perhaps one day at breakfast he looked at the house and calculated how many nights he would have to spend in Venice to justify those ten billion. And with prices like those at the Gritti Hotel, these nights wouldn't be that many. There, renting one suite costs a million, that is, the cost of almost ten thousand nights in Ca Dario. And if he were destined to spend them there, they would fly by in thirty years, which for a city like Venice is tantamount to the flap of a wing. However, he refused the deal. They say he learned about the curse of the palazzo.

All his life, Boulder dreamed of living on the world famous Grand Canal in Venice. He knew that many famous singers, composers, artists, writers and poets lived in the fashionable palazzos of the world famous Grand Canal: Hemingway and Rainer Maria Rilke, Hugo von Hoffmannstel and Marcel Proust, and even the Queen Mother herself. He bought Palazzo Dario from a mysterious guy whom he had seen only twice in his life at the Florian cafe. This guy's eyes burned like coals. He offered his empty palace at a ridiculous price. Boulder, who never turned down a good deal, agreed without hesitation. Did he then assume that by concluding this deal, he thereby handed over his soul to a dark force?

People like Robert Boulder are unlikely to be sensitive to such sensations at all. And even more so, Americans, unlike Europeans, are completely insensitive to spiritualistic phenomena. If a mysterious man with sparkling eyes had told Boulder that there was a curse on Palazzo Dario that had cost the lives of all its previous owners, he would have laughed in response. Perhaps he might have been impressed by the accident that befell Mario del Monaco, the famous tenor, after he had negotiated a price with mysterious man and signed an agreement to purchase the ill-fated palace. On the way back to Treviso, the singer's elegant limousine overturned and, still recovering from his terrible injuries, he canceled the purchase of Ca Dario.

Boulder, however, took ownership of Palazzo Dario with complete confidence. Having wildly celebrated the signing of the purchase agreement at the Florian cafe, he boarded a gondola on the St. Mark's embankment. The moon, making its nightly round, entailed a trail of light along the water of the world famous Grand Canal. A trail of ghostly radiance lay like a shroud on Palazzo Dario, but Boulder did not feel that the cold fingers of the curse were already touching him.
– Stunning Venetian light! - he sighed while the gondolier paddled steadily through the black water of the world famous Grand Canal.

The boy's heart began to beat wildly because Boulder immediately invited him to lunch at Palazzo Dario.
A little later they entered the palace through the wrought iron gates. Boulder leaned his shoulder against the heavy oak door, and Girolamo found himself in a room with a cool white marble floor, bathed in the soft, warm amber light of tall candles. There were ancient musical instruments there: harps, cymbals, lyres and spinets.
– Do you study music? - Girolamo whispered.
“No,” Boulder answered and smiled with some contempt. “It was Juan who wanted to furnish the salon with musical instruments.”

He then took him around the palace and even showed him the “luxurious” bathroom, noting the delight with which Girolamo looked at the bidet made from a single piece of marble. In the salon, the boy especially liked the tiger skins with tan marks, and in the hallway he was scared to death by the small marble children's sarcophagi.
“Oh, these are just hat stands,” Boulder smiled, noticing that the boy was scared.

On the topic of interiors and exteriors of the palazzo:

Among its rivals challenging each other on the world-famous Grand Canal, Palazzo Dario looked exhausted. Yellow-gray fragility incarnate. A house of cards that only holds up because its base is wider than the upper floors. it seemed that it was enough to just touch a small piece of its marble and the entire palace would silently collapse and collapse into the world famous Grand Canal. On the base of the palace was engraved GENIO URBIS JOANNES DARIO - “Giovanni Dario to the genius of the city.” Above, three narrow windows with pointed arches, chained with triple bars, rushed upward, as if they were intended to protect the harem. The marble façade was decorated with medallions made of green granite and red porphyry - the painted, made-up face of the palace was reflected in the water.

But even this beautiful mask could not hide the conspicuous thinness, although it set off all three floors - two piano nobile, aristocratic floors, conceived for viewing, and not as housing, and a modest, restrained upper floor. The palazzo stretched coyly and swaggered in its entire appearance, but individually each floor was nothing more than an impressive salon. On the ground floor was the Mohamed Salon, named after Sultan Mohamed II, to whom the architect Giovanni Dario owed his fame and fortune.

On the second floor there was a pink salon. Next to it was a library, a luxurious bathroom, a bedroom, small guest rooms and closets with storage.

Within the walls of the palace pier it was cold, damp and dark. Generations of Venetian architecture students devoted their diploma theses to these marble arches, vaults and columns of late medieval and Renaissance piers and quays.

The marble vaults were washed away by the tides, and they were completely covered with pockmarks and chips due to endless flooding. On the pier of Sopraport, two marble figurines of boys, whose foreskin had been chewed off by water, held in their hands the turquoise and white striped coat of arms of the Dario family. Everything that was once beautiful about them crumbled and disappeared: limbs, curls, noses - now the salt was biting into their faces. One of them had such a cavity in the lower part of his face, as if he had leprosy.

Take the stairs to the second floor. The corridor was decorated with gilded plaster rosettes - examples of eerie rococo. But what can you do? For five centuries, the palazzo digested all its inhabitants, calmly and silently.

Some of them believed that they could express themselves by building a marble fountain, while others tried to embody their creative impulses by equipping the palace with a dumbwaiter to deliver food to the upper floors.

But what all its residents valued as the individuality of the house - the white and golden tiled stoves of the Rococo era and the ceilings decorated with plaster rosettes, was nothing more than worthless tinsel decoration, which, however, could not spoil the true originality and individuality of the Palazzo Dario.

Of the three floors of the palazzo, Radomir occupied mainly only the third. On the second floor, that is, the first of the piano nobile, one could only live in the summer. The Sovraintendenza, the Office for the Protection of Monuments, has prohibited the heating of this salon in order to preserve the unique examples of stucco in it. Therefore, the furniture on the second floor dozed under white sheets during the winter months. Radomir opened this piano nobile only in exceptional cases, for example, when he received photographers from publishing houses producing albums of Venice, naturally, for a certain monetary compensation.

He didn’t care in which album the photographs of his palace would appear: “Life in Venice,” “ Venetian palazzo", "Palazzo of the world famous Grand Canal" - Radomir and his Palazzo Dario should have appeared in any of them: Palazzo Dario - view from the water; Palazzo Dario - view from the garden; detail of the marble fountain at the entrance; second floor fountain; luxurious third floor bathroom.

Second floor. Window glass, cast with a generous dose of lead, painted the interior a bright pink color.

The pink salon was crammed with furniture, of which until now only an Empire style couch could be used. Everything else: chairs with graceful legs, chests, cabinets, chests of drawers, magnificent inlaid tables and secretaries made of root wood - seemed to demonstrate indignation at the very idea of ​​​​using them for their intended purpose.

“You know, in a certain sense, I have a special relationship with Palazzo Dario, because thanks to me, it preserved the original furniture,” he said proudly. “Who knows what would have happened if someone else had bought it.” The best items from it would then be in Milanese salons or in America. And Venetian antiques would not tolerate this. He needs the Venetian climate. High humidity. If you put it in an American apartment, where the air conditioner works in the summer and everything dries out in the winter due to heating, it will very soon come to an end.

From the history of the owners of the palazzo:

– Palazzo Dario holds many secrets for me as an art historian. A lot of circumstances hide the truth about him. For a long time there was not a single worthy historical evidence, except for the inscription “Genio Urbis Joannes Darius” on the facade, but such a meager message did not limit human imagination, rather the opposite. And perhaps this is precisely what should be considered as the source of endless stories about the palace.

– Palazzo Dario is the only one in Venice named after its creator. The inscription on the facade is a sign of Giovanni Dario's respect for his homeland. Giovanni Dario was one of the few owners of palaces on the world famous Grand Canal who were not aristocrats. Most likely, the aristocrats of the world famous Grand Canal considered him an upstart, and all his life he fought for public recognition.

“Once I looked at the magnificent decoration of this facade, and it seemed to me that I saw in it the elegant nuances of the early Lombard style.
...a balcony with an iron balustrade, installed in the 18th century, emphasizes the splendor of the facade decoration, the same can be said about the grille for the lower windows near the water.

One of the rooms was almost entirely covered in copper. Above the windows of the second floor hall there is a Gothic amazingly inlaid cornice. Palazzo Dario, undoubtedly, became a worthy possession and home of its creator - Giovanni Dario, whose name we read on the facade.

– The Dario family belongs to the most famous and ancient in Venice. It comes from Crete. Giovanni Dario was supposedly born in 1414. By origin he was a tradesman, not a patrician, and a member of, on the one hand, the honorary, and on the other hand, the minor group of Senate secretaries. He performed various duties in the Council of Ten, led quite significant departments in the Senate and carried out various assignments...
– Many historians have appreciated the merits of Giovanni Dario. Tentori, for example, admires him, almost idolizes him, as a person with a wealth of experience and talent as a politician. Lecomte of the Faculty of History at the University of Montelier writes that Dario was already appointed ambassador of the Republic in 1450. However, this statement is not scientific; it is unproven.

...To Paolo Morosini, our honored historian from Padua, we owe the fact that it was Giovanni Dario who managed to make peace with the Sultan of Turkey, the terrible Mohamed II, conqueror of Constantinople...
– Dario was authorized in 1478 by Doge Giovanni Mocenigo with unlimited rights to decide and conclude peace with Mohamed II.
– Giovanni Dario was held in high esteem in Constantinople, as evidenced by two extremely interesting letters in which he describes the luxurious reception he received in that city...
...for establishing peace with Mohamed II, the Republic granted him possession of Noventa in Padua and, in addition, a thousand ducats from the salt magistracy as a dowry for his illegitimate daughter Marietta. And Mohamed gave him three gold-woven outfits...

...and Dario's family settled in the palace: Dario with his mistress Chiara, his daughter Marietta and his two nephews Andrea and Francesco Pantaleo.
- How? Giovanni Dario was not married?
- Apparently not. But there are no direct indications of this. Giovanni Dario was seventy-five years old when he settled in his palace, and his life was already clouded with thoughts of illness and death. Then he made a will. And in the same year, his daughter Marietta married the patrician Vincenzo Barbaro.

These Barbaros were a very influential and aristocratic family. They lived in a nearby palazzo. On May 1, 1494, at the age of eighty, Giovanni Dario died. After his death, the palace came into the possession of the Barbaro family. Before early XIX for centuries it remained their property. With the death of Dario, some kind of fate came upon his heirs and descendants...
– Marietta was unlucky with her husband; Vincenzo Barbaro’s temper and anger were known to everyone. Soon he was expelled from the Grand Council for ten years for insulting one lawyer.

“Marietta suffered because of her husband’s shameful position. And after the death of her father, she also died soon. Young and unhappy. She was not even twenty. In the prime of youth! In the bedroom of the Palazzo Dario from a heart attack. And a few years after her death, Dario’s nephews were brutally and mysteriously killed by robbers. Neither he nor his daughter found peace even after death. The church of Santa Maria delle Grazia, where they were buried, was blown up in 1849. The fact is that since 1810 it housed a gunpowder warehouse, which was blown up when the Austrians entered here.

– We are grateful for these numerous valuable references and facts to the work of Raudon Labocca Brown, author of the famous study of the life of Maria Sanuto. Raudon Brown was the owner of the Dario Palace from 1838 to 1842. He bought it for four hundred and eighty pounds sterling from the Marquis of Ebdoll, an Armenian diamond merchant who represented Saxony in Venice until he unexpectedly went bankrupt.

…V last years last century, the palazzo housed a boarding house. The central chapter of his story. At that time it belonged to the Countess de la Baume Plouvignelle. She was friends with many thinkers, the French poet Henri de Regnier was her frequent guest in the early years of the 20th century, the inscription on the garden wall still reminds of him...

“It was Countess de la Baume Pluvignel who initiated the decisive restoration work, when, for example, the fountain on the third floor was rebuilt.

She, however, went a little overboard with the decorations, in a word, she overloaded the palace. By her order, large mirrors were hung, they still hang today, and majolica stoves were installed. As D'Annunzio rightly noted then, Palazzo Dario turned into “a decrepit courtesan, bent under the weight of her jewelry.” The poet lived at that time opposite, in the casetta rossa (pink house).

They tried to make a connection between the ebb and flow of the tides - as one of the mysteries of the palazzo:

– What does the curse of Palazzo Dario have to do with the flood? – Wanda did not let up. - All of Venice suffers from him.
- But not during low tide?! Palazzo Dario is the only palace in which the water remains standing even during low tide in the world famous Grand Canal. And it started almost immediately after our arrival: water suddenly rose through the sewer hole - black, smelly, and flooded the entire first floor. We thought it was a real flood and didn't understand why the siren didn't sound. And then we looked out of the window and it turned out that the water in the world famous Grand Canal had gone out with the tide. It had gone so far that even the boat would not have approached the pier.

– Maybe there’s something wrong with the drain? This happens often,” said Wanda.
Mikel even raised his voice.
– Yes, we had the head of the city hall’s department for floods, magistratto delle acque. And I couldn’t say anything! - he shouted.

The bells on the Campanile struck midnight and the moon bathed the city in silver light. Anya took a deep breath. The first line of vaporetto went towards the imposing church of Santa Maria della Salute. As they approached the Palazzo Dario, soft light fell on its pale Istrian marble, illuminating it in a festive way.

Wanda's tension eased a little. She began to get her bearings again as they sailed through the Rio San Maurizio towards the world famous Grand Canal. So Primo really was taking her to Palazzo Dario. Palazzo Morosini dai Leoni, where the Guggenheim Museum was located, lay like an unfinished cake on the embankment. Near Rio de le Toresele between Palazzo Dario and the American Consulate. Primo brought the gondola to the portico of Palazzo Dario.
...And Palazzo Dario with its porta nera (black gate)!

Reska's book tells with great humor how various magic charlatans were invited to the palazzo to cleanse it of the curse. And here quite a cool theory of the origin of the curse due to bad place building a palazzo:

– Basically everything is clear. So to speak, mathematically,” Wanda said. “Of course, neither you nor your predecessors even bothered to look at the map of the city and how Palazzo Dario is located. But once you take a look, everything will become clear to anyone who has even the slightest bit of imagination.
She went to the library and, taking out a map of Venice, laid it out on the table in front of Radomir.
“I’ll show you what the magician Alexander explained to me.” Do you see that the world famous Grand Canal is shaped like a snake or even a dragon? It divides the city into two parts. Here, above, at Margera's, is the head of a dragon. – Wanda pointed her index finger along the world famous Grand Canal. – Here, below, we find ourselves in an area that brings misfortune, because this is the tail of the dragon, the most unlucky place, although contradictory at the same time.
– Why contradictory? – asked Radomir.
“Have patience,” said Wanda, “just listen for once.” The place where Ka Dario stands is very negative. On the one hand, the palace is located on the left bank…
...And left means negative,” Radomir finished for her.

- ABOUT! Bravo! – Wanda responded. – Look, we are making progress in the world of the unknown! On the other hand, at the end of the world famous Grand Canal is the island of San Giorgio, named after St. George, who defeated the dragon. It neutralizes negative energy.
“Sounds logical,” Radomir agreed.
“Across from us is the symbol of Venice – St. Mark’s Cathedral,” Wanda continued confidently. – And both saints, St. Mark and St. George, must drive out evil spirits and destroy the dark power of the dragon.
“But if you look closely at the palazzo, its asymmetry becomes clearly visible. Besides, there are seventeen windows in the palace, which is very bad. And the inscription: “Genio Urbis Joannes Darius.” Dedication to the city. Like a dedication to the dragon, Alexander said. The same. He also tried to find out what the twenty-three letter anagram meant. It means: Sub ruina insidosa genero (under the rubble, treason is born). This means that everyone who moves into this palace will be destroyed,” Wanda finished.

The book is an interesting read, but - Petra Reski did not give her version of the origin of the curse and left the ending open - it can be interpreted in different ways. For those who like to read books with humor, but without a logical ending, this is suitable.

I'll just add a few interesting facts to the history of Palazzo Dario.

They wanted to rebuild the palazzo. On the left is a drawing of the existing facade, on the right is a drawing of the proposed reconstruction, which never took place:

The famous French impressionist artist Claude Monet and his wife visited Venice:

The history of Palazzo Dario interested Claude Monet and views of the building were immortalized in the artist’s paintings:

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And we saw this palazzo when we went straight from St. Mark’s Square in this direction.

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The beautiful Ca'Dario palace, which was painted by Claude Monet himself, is considered the most sinister place in Venice. The fame of the “cursed old house” was firmly established behind it, because according to various estimates, about nine owners of the ancient palazzo died under strange, if not sinister, circumstances. In today's material: history, mysticism and a little skepticism. Let's start with the facts.

HISTORY OF THE CURSED PALACE

Palazzo Ca Dario was built in 1487 by the architect Pietro Lombardo, commissioned by the noble citizen Giovanni Dario. In the capital of the Most Serene Republic, Dario was considered a respected person. He was both a merchant and a notary, moreover, Giovanni even managed to conclude a peace agreement with the Turks, for which the Venetians awarded him the honorary title “Savior of the Motherland.” It is curious that Dario built the palazzo named after him not for his beloved, but for his daughter Marietta. The palace was intended for her as a wedding gift - the girl was engaged to a wealthy spice merchant, Vincenzo Barbaro. In 1494, Dario passed away, and the palazzo became the property of the Barbaro family. It was here that the very horrors and nightmares began because of which the palace received its nickname maledetto, which means "cursed".

At first Vincenzo went bankrupt, and then he was killed by a knife. Soon his wife Marietta also died: according to one version, the girl committed suicide, and according to the second, she died of a heart attack. Their son, Giacomo, also soon died, although this happened not in Venice, but in Crete, where he was ambushed. However, the noble Venetian family owned the palazzo until the 19th century, when Alessandro Barbaro managed to sell the ill-fated palace to Arbit Abdoll, a merchant of Armenian origin who traded in jewelry. The new owner of Ka-Dario, one might say, was lucky. He simply went bankrupt, but he survived, but Abdollah still had to sell the palazzo, and at a pittance price - for only 480 pounds.

The next owner of Ka-Dario was the Englishman Roundon Brown. The palace became his property in 1838, but Brown never settled in the chambers of the palazzo - he simply did not find the funds for a large-scale reconstruction of the dilapidated building. Then Ka-Dario changed hands several times again: first it was bought by a Hungarian count, then by a rich Irishman named Marshal, but only Duchess Isabelle Gontran de la Baum-Pluvinel became the truly full owner of the palace. She completely restored the interiors of the palazzo, however, many close to Her Serene Highness sarcastically noticed that the Duchess was too keen on decoration, which is why the halls and rooms of Ka-Dario began to look tacky. Nevertheless, Isabel lived here for a long time and must have been happy, because, according to the Venetians, the spirits of Ca-Dario appreciated the caring attitude of the aristocrat to their permanent abode. It is known that the duchess also hosted the poet Henri de Regnier, however, the servant of the muses in the palazzo was desperately ill, he was even forced to leave the city earlier than planned, but here, as they say, the eternal Venetian dampness may be to blame for everything, and not some evil machinations of otherworldly forces.

The next owner of the damned palace was the American millionaire Charles Briggs. He also failed to live for his own pleasure in the palazzo. The fact is that the Venetians quickly discovered one piquant aspect of the millionaire’s personal life - he was gay. Due to accusations of homosexuality, Briggs and his lover were forced to flee the city. The couple went to Mexico, where Charles' lover soon committed suicide. Of course, many immediately saw in this circumstance the ominous trace of Ka-Dario.

For a long time the palace was empty, until in 1964 opera tenor Mario Del Monaco drew attention to it. He had already begun negotiations on the purchase of the palazzo, but did not have time to complete his plans - on the way to Venice, Mario got into serious trouble. car accident. The singer spent a long time in the hospital, after which he decided to stay away from sin, and at the same time, away from the terrible palazzo. The next owner of Ca-Dario was the Count of Turin, Filippo Giordano delle Lanze. Already in 1970, he was killed within the walls of the palazzo by a Croatian sailor named Raul, with whom, according to rumors, the aristocrat had a close relationship. Meanwhile, Raoul himself was also soon killed in London, where he fled from Venice.

The next stage in the terrible history of Ka-Dario can be commented on as sexs drugs and rock and roll, because the next owner of the palace was none other than Christopher “Kit” Lambert from the group The Who. Keith complained that it was absolutely impossible to sleep in the palace, because at night ghosts raged in the halls. It must be said that the spirits turned out to be so arrogant and annoying that Lambert soon began to spend the night either in the gondoliers' booth or in a hotel located next to the palace. However, only a completely naive and pure-hearted person can unconditionally believe Keith’s testimony. It's no secret that Lambert loved to experiment with all sorts of prohibited substances. For this reason, the owners of many hotels refused to provide him with a room, and members of The Who broke off relations with Keith because of his addictions, which were too harmful even for a rock and roller.

But the Venetian businessman Fabrizio Ferrari, to whom Lambert sold the ill-fated palace three years before his death in 1978, was not known to be addicted to psychotropic substances. But Ka-Dario did not spare him either. At first, Fabrizio's sister Nicoletta, who also lived in the palazzo, died in an accident, which occurred under unclear circumstances - not a single witness to the accident was found. Then Fabrizio went broke, and soon he was arrested on charges of beating a model. The last tragic incident involving Ka-Dario occurred in 1993. The new owner of the palazzo, financier Raoul Gardini, committed suicide. The reason is a financial collapse coupled with a corruption scandal in which the businessman was involved.

WHAT DO THE MYSTICS SAY?

Naturally, lovers of mysticism have spent a lot of effort to find out why Palazzo Ca-Dario is destroying its owners. The magicians and sorcerers never came to a common conclusion. Some claim that the palace is cursed by the Templars, saying that it was built on the site of the old cemetery of the Knights of the Cross. It is worth noting that the Templars actually made their mark in Venice, so in 1293 they, together with the Venetians, equipped galleys in the capital of the Holy Republic in order to protect Cyprus from Muslims.

According to the second version, the root of evil is in an anagram in Latin, which can be found on the facade of the palace. In fact, she is completely harmless VRBIS GENIO IOANNES DARIVS, which simply means “honorary citizen Giovanni Dario.” But the mystics noticed that if you rearrange the letters, the inscription will turn into SVB RVINA INSIDIOSA GENERO, which can be translated as “underneath I create bloody ruins.” Well, how can you not panic!

AND A LITTLE HEALTHY SKEPTICISM

To this day, Venetians believe that the ghosts of all the owners of Palazzo Ca-Dario live within the walls of the building, and therefore try to stay away from the cursed palace whenever possible. However, if we do emotionless arithmetic calculations, we will find the following. The palace is more than 530 years old, and nine terrible deaths for such a period is not the most monstrous statistic. Simply, the fact is that people by nature tend to “avoid repetition,” therefore, if the same situation is repeated several times, which according to the theory of probability is nothing unusual, a person begins to see in these facts the influence of powerful higher forces. This feature of our psyche manifests itself especially clearly in cases of tragic stories, which is why many people completely sincerely believe in various damages and curses.

Second point. For a long time, the Venetians believed that the palace especially did not like financiers and merchants, they say they work with money, so the spirits of the palazzo punish them. But, if you impartially look at all the stories described above, then in each individual case the result was more than natural: here, rather, causes were confused with effects. And there is nothing strange at all in the fact that entrepreneurs often go bankrupt; as you know, out of 100 projects, only 20 become successful - and this is the most positive statistics.

In a word, Palazzo Ca-Dario is not as scary as it is painted. Or is it still scary? A well-known fact: during low tide in the Grand Canal, for some unknown reason, the halls of the palace can fill with stinking water. Venice plumbers spent a lot of time trying to figure out why this was happening, but they never found an answer. In a word, even if you don’t believe in ghosts and curses, living in a palace built in the 15th century by order of Giovanni Dario is a very dubious pleasure. The superstitious should avoid this place altogether!

Yulia Malkova- Yulia Malkova - founder of the website project. In the past, he was the editor-in-chief of the elle.ru Internet project and the editor-in-chief of the cosmo.ru website. I talk about travel for my own pleasure and the pleasure of my readers. If you are a representative of hotels or a tourism office, but we do not know each other, you can contact me by email: [email protected]

When visiting the central part of Venice, taking a walk along the Grand Canal, tourists turn their attention to the magnificent facades of ancient palaces. Created over many centuries palace complex Venice. The periods of development and prosperity of the Venetian Republic fell under the influence of different styles: Byzantine, Gothic and Romanesque. Also, a huge contribution belongs to the Renaissance.

According to historical information, only the Doge's Palace could be called a palace. The remaining buildings were to be called "Ka" (from Casa), which means "house". Later, the mansions began to be called “Palazzo”, i.e. Palace. Every influential Venetian family considered it their duty to build a mansion, or even several. Eventually, the names of these houses began to reflect the surnames of the owners. The best craftsmen were invited to build and decorate family palaces: architects, sculptors and artists.

Doge's Palace is the main attraction of Venice, a great monument of Italian Gothic architecture. Located on St. Mark's Square near the cathedral of the same name. Construction modern building took place around 1309-1424, presumably by the architect Filippo Calendario. Part of the palace was destroyed by fire in 1577. The building was rebuilt by Antonio de Ponti (author of the Rialto Bridge).

First of all, the main building of the city represented the residence of the Doges of the Republic. Meetings of the Grand Council and the Senate were held here, Supreme Court and the secret police. In addition, the building housed the offices of lawyers, the naval department, the office and censor services. Built-on balcony holidays served as a tribune from where the Doge appeared before the people.

The Doge's Palace, St. Mark's Cathedral, the Library of San Marco and other buildings represent the main architectural ensemble Venice.

At first it may seem that the architectural elements of the palace are interconnected in an illogical, unexpected and accidental way. However, everything here is attractive, bright and fresh, full of joy and life, artistically rich and intelligent.

Ca d'Oro (Palazzo Santa Sofia) It is considered the most elegant palace built in the Venetian style. It is located on the Grand Canal in the Cannaregio area. The palace has a different name - “Golden House”, due to the fact that gold leaf was used during the first decoration. In addition, ultramarine and vermilion (cinnabar) were used in decoration. The palace is an example of Venetian Gothic architecture.

The palace building in the Gothic style was erected in the 15th century, the authors of the project were the architect Giovanni Bon and his son Bartolomeo Bon. This site was previously occupied by a Byzantine-style building, Palazzo Zeno. The old palace was demolished, but fragments of it were preserved in the façade of the Ca' d'Oro.

During its existence, the palace building repeatedly changed owners and was rebuilt. In 1894, the palace was acquired by Baron Giorgio Franchetti. Based on surviving paintings and drawings, he reconstructed the mansion, returning it to its historical appearance. The baron collected a rich collection of paintings. Later, the palace and the collection became the property of the state.

From 1927 to the present day, the Franchetti Gallery has been located in Ca d'Oro.

Ca' Foscari or Palazzo Foscari at one time belonged to Doge Francesco Foscari. The building is located in the Dorsoduro district on a wide curve of the Grand Canal, where during the historic Regatta a floating wooden structure known as the "Machina" is located (from where the Venetian authorities monitor the races and present awards).

Foscari Palace was built in 1452 according to the design of Bartolomeo Bon. Nowadays the University of Ca' Foscari operates here.

Ca' Foscari represents a typical example of the residence of the Venetian nobility and merchants. There was a warehouse in the basement. The first and second floors were used as housing, they are called “Piano nobile”. On the second floor, the central arcade is modeled after the façade of the loggia of the Palazzo Ducale. An arcade representing a large central window illuminates Big hall, there are smaller windows on both sides.

Palazzo Foscari is one of the very large buildings with the most impressive courtyard of a private house that can be seen in Venice. Main entrance was located on the canal side, since the main activity was trade. For this reason, the facade of the house facing the Grand Canal looks much more beautiful than the facade from the courtyard.

The external façade is made up of a series of arches, windows and columns belonging to the Gothic style. The columns are decorated with a quatrefoil and a lion. The decorative composition above the polyphora consists of a lion, a helmet, angels, where the lion is the symbol of Venice; the helmet recalls the reign of Doge Francesco Foscari; angels with a shield - the coat of arms of the Foscari family.

Ca' da Mosto- a palace in the Cannaregio area. Built in the 13th century in Veneto-Byzantine style, it is the oldest building on the Grand Canal.

Initially, the palace was created as the house of a merchant - the owner of the building. A second floor was added at the beginning of the 16th century, and a third in the 19th century. The palace is named after the traveler Alvise da Mosto, who was born in 1432 in this house. The building remained in the possession of the da Mosto family until 1603.

In the 16th to 18th centuries the palace housed the famous White Lion Hotel.

Currently, the palace is empty, as the past floods damaged the foundation of the building, and it needs restoration. The building is owned by Count Francesco da Mosto, an Italian architect and producer whose life goal is to restore the palace.

Ka' Dario or Palazzo Dario located in the Dorsoduro area. One side of the palace faces the Grand Canal, the other faces Barbaro Square. Palace building- a wonderful example of Renaissance architecture. The mosaic facade made of bright marble attracts special attention.

The palace was built in 1487 by order of a representative of the Venetian nobility, Giovanni Dario, in the classical Renaissance style.

At one time, the owner of the mansion was the French poet Henri de Regnier, who lived in the mansion at the end of the 19th century. The palace is famous for the fact that one of the weddings of the famous film director Woody Allen took place here.

However, the building gained a bad reputation as a “cursed palace.” The owners of the mansion more than once became bankrupt or committed suicide, and were subjected to violence. The last tragedy happened here in 1993, when the richest Italian industrialist shot himself after a corruption scandal broke out.

Palazzo Mocenigo located on the Grand Canal, is a complex of four adjacent palaces from the 16th and 17th centuries. The two middle palaces are identical.

In 1621, Lady Arundel, the wife of a British diplomat, settled in the first palazzo. The Council of Ten immediately received anonymous denunciations that the house was often visited by Antonio Foscarini, the former Venetian ambassador to London. Antonio Foscarini had already been convicted of treason, but was eventually acquitted. This time the Council of Ten made a tough decision. Foscarini was arrested and executed. Later it turned out that the poor fellow had been slandered: the relationship with the lady was purely amorous. The body was removed from the grave and buried with honors, and notices were posted around the city in which the Council of Ten admitted their regrettable mistake.

The last palace was owned by Giovanni Mocenigo, who for some period patronized Giordano Bruno, who visited this palazzo. However, Giovanni Mocenigo then sent a denunciation to the Council of Ten, accusing Bruno of heresy. Submitting to the papal verdict, the Venetian Senate agreed to extradite the thinker to Rome, where he was burned in 1600.

In 1818-1819, Lord Byron lodged in the Palazzo Mocenigo.

Ca' Pesaro located on the Grand Canal in the Santa Croce area. The author is the architect Baldassare Longhena. Construction was completed in 1710.

Duchess Felicita Bevilacqua la Masa bequeathed her house to the city in 1899. The International Gallery of Modern Art has been operating in Ca' Pesaro since 1902. The palace also houses a museum of oriental art.

Palazzo Dandolo

The palace was built by the Dandolo family in 1400.

During its existence, the building had a large number of owners. The Gritti family acquired the palace in 1536. After Gritti, the palazzo was owned by representatives of the Michele, Mocenigo, and Bernardo families.

In the 1630s, the new owners of the palace turned it into a popular gambling house in the city, where the rules of the establishment included playing in masks. After some time, at the insistence of the authorities, the casino was closed.

Today, Palazzo Dandollo houses a luxury hotel Hotel Royal Danieli.

Ca' Rezzonico located on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro area. The palace has housed the Museum of 18th-century Venice since 1936.

The author of the project is the architect Baldassare Longhena. Construction under the direction of Giorgio Massari was completed only in 1745, many years after Longen's death. The interior contains grandiose frescoes by the Italian master Tiepolo.

Palazzo Labia located in the Cannaregio area, on the Cannaregio Canal. Not far from the palace, across the square, is the Church of San Jeremiah. Palazzo Labia is one of the last “great” palaces of Venice, built at the beginning of the 18th century in the Baroque style.

The interior is decorated with frescoes by Tiepolo.

Palazzo Barbarigo located on the Grand Canal. Here in 1625 the Italian cardinal, theologian, Saint Gregorio Barbarigo was born.

The building was built in the 16th century, at the height of the Renaissance. The palace has three floors: the lower open loggia overlooked the canal, the upper two floors also with open loggias were decorated with columns.

The owners of the building, owners of glass production, decorated the façade of the palazzo with Murano glass mosaics in 1886. After the work was completed, the aristocratic neighbors criticized the then new owners as nouveau riche, who completed the decoration of the palace contrary to the noble facades of nearby buildings.

However, the modern appearance of the palazzo is one of the most striking and memorable on the entire Grand Canal.

Today, part of the building is used as a showroom and a store selling Murano glass.

Palazzo Barbaro consists of two palaces adjacent to each other in the San Marco area, on the Grand Canal. Located next to the Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti.

The palaces were built for the Barbaro family. The first of them was built in 1425 in the Gothic style. The second was designed in 1694 in Baroque style.

The old palazzo was visited by many famous personalities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the guests of the Curtis family of American millionaires were Claude Monet, Robert Browning, John Singer Sargent, Isabella Gardner, James Whistler. Writer Henry James wrote his work “The Aspern Papers” in this mansion.

Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti located on the Grand Canal, near the Accademia Bridge, in the San Marco area. The palace has housed the Institute of Sciences, Literature and Art since 1999.

The palace building was built in the 15th century. Completely reconstructed while preserving the architectural forms of late Gothic in 1871-1882. The work was led by the architects Giambattista Meduna and Camillo Boito.

Palazzo Grassi located on the Grand Canal in the San Marco area.

The palace was designed by the architect Giorgio Massari in the 18th century.

In the 20th century, the Fiat automobile concern acquired and restored the palace to host major art exhibitions. In 2005, the building was reconstructed according to the design of architect Tadao Ando.

At the beginning of 2005, the building, retaining its function exhibition hall, the casino was sold.

Palazzo Corner Spinelli located in the San Marco area, on the Grand Canal.

The palace is one of the best Renaissance palaces in Venice. The building was built by the architect Mauro Coducci in 1480-1500. Architectural feature are double arched windows rounded at the top and rusticated stonework on the ground floor. The palace served as a prototype for many city buildings.

The building was transferred to the Korner family in 1542. Under the new owners, architect Michele Sanmichele completely redesigned the interiors of the palace.

In the 20th century, the famous collector Giuseppe Salom became the owner of the building, who collected a significant collection of paintings by Pietro Longhi and his contemporaries.

Palazzo Grimani located on the Rio di San Luca canal, where it flows into the Grand Canal. Built during the Renaissance for Doge Antonio Grimani, the current appearance dates back to 1556-1575.

After the death of Antonio Grimani, in the years 1532-1569, the palazzo was successively rebuilt by the heirs of the Doge, first Vittore Grimani, the procurator general of the city, then Giovanni Grimani, cardinal and patriarch of Aquileia. In 1575, under the leadership of Giovanni Rusconi, the work was completed. Alessandro Vittoria designed the door portal.

The palace includes three parts and a small backyard. The facade of the palace is decorated with multi-colored marble.

The highlight of the interior is the “Psyche Hall”, decorated with frescoes by Francesco Menzocchi, Francesco Salviati, Camilo Mantovano. The palace currently houses the Venetian Court of Appeal.

Palazzo Tiepolo or "Palazzo Tiepolo Passi" located on the Grand Canal between Palazzo Soranzo Pisani and Palazzo Pisani Moretta in the San Polo area.

However, it should be clarified that on the left bank of the Grand Canal there is also Palazzo Tiepolo, and the building on the other side of Soranzo Pisani is also called Tiepolo Passi.

The palace was built on the site of a pre-existing structure in the mid-16th century by an unknown architect. The four-story mansion in the early Renaissance style belonged to the noble Querini family.

The main facade is divided by three interfloor cornices. The ground floor has paired arched doors for entry from the water and two small arched windows on either side. The front doors are decorated with windows on the second and third floors, consisting of four parts, with columns and balconies in the center of the façade. There are single windows on the sides, framed by pilasters, without balconies. On the fourth floor the windows are small, rectangular, like in a skylight on the roof of a building. The protruding roof overhang is supported by rectangular consoles.

Previously, the façade was decorated with frescoes by Andrea Meldolla depicting scenes of hunting and rural life; some fragments are still visible today. The interior decoration of the palazzo has preserved antique parquet flooring, ceilings with wooden beams, paintings on the walls and stucco in pastel colors, and antique furniture.

In different eras, the palace was owned by the Querini, Loredan, and Tiepolo families. Now the building is the property of the old noble family of Passy. In the palazzo you can rent luxury apartments and a room for banquets.

Fondaco dei Tedeschi located in the Rialto quarter, on the Grand Canal. The building has a large courtyard. Previously, the façade of the palace was decorated with frescoes by Giorgione and Titian, which were destroyed by fire in 1505.

The palace was built by the architect Girolamo Tedesco in 1228, destroyed by fire in 1505 and rebuilt in 1505-1508.

In the 16th century, the Fondaco dei Tedeschi served as a building for housing, warehouses and trade for German merchants.

From 1603 to 1604, Ivan Bolotnikov lived here, who was freed from Turkish slavery by German traders who captured a Turkish ship at sea.

At the beginning of 2012, Benetton signed an agreement to restore the palace and announced plans to create a shopping mall, which opened in October 2016.

Fondaco dei Turchi formerly a Turkish farmstead. The palace is located on the Grand Canal.

The building with covered galleries was erected in the Veneto-Byzantine style in the 13th century. The palace was created in imitation of the Middle Byzantine luxurious buildings of Constantinople and served as a prototype for many Venetian palaces.

The building was rented out to Turkish merchants as housing and a warehouse, and the name is connected with this.

Initially, the palace belonged to the city; the Emperor of Byzantium and many other eminent guests of Venice were received here. For a long time, the Fondaco dei Turchi was owned by various wealthy Venetian families; in 1621-1838 it was the property of the Turkish community.

The building was completely restored in the 19th century and currently houses the Italian Natural History Museum.