Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo: A Renaissance Palace in Venice
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Venetian
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Elite Residence
On this page7 sections
History
Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo is a sixteenth-century Renaissance palace in Venice, Italy, commissioned by the noble Contarini family. It stands in Cannaregio and is the later namesake and counterpart of an earlier fifteenth-century Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo in Dorsoduro on the Grand Canal.
The Contarini name
The palace’s name refers to Giorgio Contarini, identified as the first Duke of Jaffa. “Zaffo” is the Venetian dialect form of Giaffa. The building is probably the birthplace of Gasparo Contarini, the Venetian diplomat, cardinal, and theologian known for his involvement in sixteenth-century religious and political affairs.
Ecclesiastical and charitable use
Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo now serves ecclesiastical and charitable purposes. It houses the Venetian residence of the Piccola Casa della Divina Provvidenza, also known as Cottolengo, a charitable institution founded in 1828 by the Italian Catholic priest Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo. The palace also contains the cardinal’s residence known as Opera Fides Intrepida, while an old-age home occupies the right wing.
Remains
Facade and architectural layout
The palace is a broad Renaissance building on the Fondamenta di Gasparo Contarini, near the church of Madonna dell’Orto and the Rio Madonna dell’Orto. Its three-storey facade is elongated rather than fully symmetrical. The ground floor is proportioned like a mezzanine and contains square windows. Two large round-arched entrance portals occupy the centre of the first two levels. Their keystones bear mascarons, sculpted ornamental faces, and a small window between them is surmounted by the stone Contarini family coat of arms.
The first piano nobile, the principal residential floor, has a continuous row of thirteen rectangular windows set in stone surrounds. The second storey also has thirteen rectangular windows, placed within round-arched framing. On the left side of the piano nobile is a sixteenth-century Serliana, an opening with a central arch between two narrower openings, fitted here with a balustrade. Its position is offset from the entrance portal.
Garden and surroundings
A very large garden extends behind the palace toward the northern side of Venice and the lagoon. The eastern side borders the Sacca della Misericordia, as does the Casino degli Spiriti, which bounds the garden. The Casino degli Spiriti appears in views from both the garden and the lagoon.
Chapel decoration
The interior contains frescoes by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo. They are now in the household chapel, but during the Contarini period they decorated the residential mezzanine rooms. The decoration includes an Apotheosis of Giorgio Contarini.
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