sandr018

I recently spent a few weeks traveling through Vienna, Venice, and Rome, and wanted to share with you one of my favorite house museums: Ca' Rezzonico in Venice. I love how looking up at the facade from the dock on the Grand Canal one is faced with dozens of carved peering faces looking down. Though started in 1649 the baroque palazzo wasn't finished until 1756 and has been a house museum devoted to 18th century living in Venice since 1936. Before becoming a museum however its inhabitants were a literal who's who: Cole Porter, John Singer Sargent, and Robert Browning to name a few. The lower level which has seen its fair share of weathering floods is composed of marble flooring and stucco on stone walls. The ground floor is primarily open space (open to the weather) and circulation. The Cafe, bookshop, and offices now fill the ground floor and mezzanine spaces of the palazzo.  An antique gondola stands guard at the side entrance to a smaller canal. A law passed in the 16th ...