Baroque palace · 17th century · Dorsoduro, Venice

Villa Ca’ Zenobio

Ca’ Zenobio degli Armeni is a three-storey Baroque palace in the Dorsoduro sestiere of Venice, built on fourteenth-century Gothic foundations and reconstructed from 1664 to 1690 to designs by architect Antonio Gaspari for the Zenobio family. The palace is celebrated for its Hall of Mirrors ballroom, whose ceiling and walls bear early frescoes by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Ludovico Dorigny, and Gregorio Lazzarini, and for its romantic garden — added in 1848–49 — with sculpted hills and a bridge. From 1850 to 1997 it served as the Moorat-Raphael College for Armenian students; today it hosts events and exhibitions during the Venice Biennale.

At a glance

Type: Patrician Baroque palace (palazzo)
Period: 14th-century Gothic foundations; Baroque reconstruction 1664–1690; garden 1848–49
Style: Venetian Baroque; Neoclassical archive (1777); Romantic garden
Location: Calle del Forno, Dorsoduro, Venice
Architects: Antonio Gaspari (Baroque rebuild, 1690); Tommaso Temanza (library and archive, 1777)
Patron: Zenobio family; later Samuel Mkrtich Moorat and Edward Raphael (Armenian College)
Coordinates: 45.4337° N, 12.3208° E
Current use: Events venue and exhibition space; Moorat-Raphael Armenian cultural association

Overview

Ca’ Zenobio stands as one of the more atmospheric palaces of Venice’s Dorsoduro district, distinguished by the quality of its interior fresco cycle and by its rare surviving walled garden. The Zenobio were a family of Greek origin who rose to Venetian patrician status; their palace commission from Antonio Gaspari resulted in a façade and plan that exemplify late seventeenth-century Venetian Baroque. The palace’s subsequent history as an Armenian educational institution for nearly 150 years added a distinctive cultural layer, making it a point of connection between Venice and the Armenian diaspora in a city already home to the Armenian monastery of San Lazzaro degli Armeni.

History

The Zenobio family acquired the property in 1664 and entrusted its reconstruction to Antonio Gaspari, completing the building around 1690 on the skeleton of an earlier Gothic structure. In 1777 the Neoclassical architect Tommaso Temanza redesigned the archive and library wing. The Romantic-style garden with artificial hills, statuary, and a bridge was added in 1848–49 after the palace was purchased by Count Salvi of Vicenza. In 1850 it became the Moorat-Raphael College, founded on bequests from two wealthy Armenian businessmen — Samuel Mkrtich Moorat and Edward Raphael — whose separate foundations merged in 1871. The college enrolled students from seven countries but closed in 1997 due to insufficient funding. The palace has since operated as a cultural and events venue.

What you see

The principal showpiece is the portego and ballroom, where a ceiling fresco by Ludovico Dorigny depicts the Allegory of the Dawn with Aurora welcoming Apollo, flanked by compositions by Gregorio Lazzarini and early work by the young Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. The portego walls display veduta paintings and etchings by Luca Carlevarijs. The Neoclassical library designed by Tommaso Temanza offers a measured contrast to the exuberant Baroque of the main rooms. The walled garden, unusual in a city where green space is scarce, retains its Romantic character with rolling terrain and a small ornamental bridge.

Cultural significance

Ca’ Zenobio holds the distinction of containing early work by Tiepolo, placing it in the trajectory of Venetian painting just before the artist’s mature masterworks transformed European decorative art. Its long life as an Armenian college also makes it a monument to the transnational cultural networks of Venice, which from the Renaissance onwards served as a hub connecting Western Europe with the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond. The palace featured in Madonna’s 1984 “Like A Virgin” music video and in productions of the Commissario Brunetti television series, extending its cultural reach into popular consciousness.

Practical information

Ca’ Zenobio is accessible for events, private visits, and during open-house periods aligned with the Venice Biennale. It is not a standard daily-entry museum. Check the official Moorat-Raphael Association website for access arrangements and upcoming events. Address: Calle del Forno, Dorsoduro, Venice.

Getting there

The palace is in Dorsoduro, a short walk from the Ca’ Rezzonico vaporetto stop (Lines 1 and 2 on the Grand Canal). From Santa Lucia railway station, take the vaporetto to Ca’ Rezzonico (approx. 15 minutes) and walk south through the Dorsoduro neighbourhood. Water taxis and gondolas also serve the area.

Sources & resources

Historical events at this place (1)

2022 Inaugurazione Museo Internazionale degli Artisti Accademici Emergenti

Villa Ca&#39; Zenobio, Biscaro, Alver&agrave; is a Venetian villa located in Santa Bona (Treviso).



The villa appears in forms similar to the present ones already in a map of 1680, where the complex is reported as &quot;casin e caseta et church for its use&quot; owned by Don Domenico Biscaro, a member of a large local family. In 1714 the same plant is represented (&laquo;Palazzo orto, church and garden&raquo;) but the owner is the Venetian Stefano Morellato.



Subsequent pastoral visits by the bishop of Treviso testify how the complex was then passed to Costantin Franceschi and the Battistiol Torni family, also owner of the current villa Torni&nbsp;in Mogliano Veneto.



In 1744 the villa was bought by Sebastiano Uccelli, a wealthy employee of the Procuratoria of San Marco de citra. He was responsible for an important restructuring of the complex which also saw a revision of the decorative apparatus with the addition of statues and frescoes. During the works the barchessa was built (incorporating a pre-existing building) and the private oratory was rebuilt.



The name by which the building is commonly known is linked to the subsequent owner, Count Verit&agrave; Zenobio who kept it from 1779 to the 1780s, and then left it to his family. During this period, the poetess Angela Veronese, daughter of the Zenobio gardener, spent her childhood in the annexes.



In the nineteenth century, the Advances and, from 1873, Pacifico Ceresa, took turns. On his death in 1905, the complex was inherited by his daughter Elisabetta Ceresa in Alver&agrave; (hence the other denomination of Ca &#39;Alver&agrave;).



In 1949 the Alver&agrave; family sold the complex to Giuseppe Cavallin, known for having parceled out the annexed estate and also part of the park, by selling the trunks of the centuries-old trees to a sawmill; the boundary wall was knocked down for two thirds of its length and the wrought iron gates, also mentioned by Coletti, were sold.



One was recovered from a scrap metal warehouse and is now in the deposits of the Treviso Civic Museums.



In 1951 it was bought by the engineer Ceccotto and in 1960 by Marcella Caccianiga in Del Pra &#39;and her children.



The last transfer of ownership took place at the end of the 1990s with the transfer to the Cassamarca foundation which in 2002 completed a radical restoration. Until 2012 it hosted a theatrical and musical advanced school managed by the company Teatri SpA.



For the summer of 2021, from Monday 21 June, starting at 3 pm, the historic villa will be reopened to the public, who will be able to visit the centuries-old park and the magnificent music room.



Cassamarca Foundation opens its doors to an area of ??1.2 hectares devoted above all to children, with a library dedicated to children&#39;s literature, a playroom, a music room. The project is to create a Treviso sports museum.



The archive of the municipal theater will be transferred and it has also become the seat of the International Museum of Emerging Academic Artists.

https://culturalheritageonline.com/places/villa-ca-zenobio-l4556/

#CulturalHeritage #CHO