The Gothic palace on this site burned down in one night in August 1532. The Corner family had Jacopo Sansovino build them a new one so large that Venice called it the Ca’ Granda, the big house. Today it is the seat of the Prefecture.
At a glance
Palazzo Corner della Ca’ Granda stands on the San Marco side of the Grand Canal, opposite the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. It replaced the Gothic Palazzo Malombra, bought by the Corner family and destroyed by fire on the night of 15 to 16 August 1532. The rebuilding was given to Jacopo Sansovino, and the result was big enough to earn a nickname. The Corner kept it until 1812. Today it houses the Prefecture of Venice and the Metropolitan City of Venice.
Key facts
- Before: the Gothic Palazzo Malombra, bought by Giorgio Corner, brother of Caterina Cornaro, queen of Cyprus, after her death in 1510
- 15–16 August 1532: the old palace is destroyed by fire
- Rebuilding: entrusted to Jacopo Sansovino, around a large central courtyard
- Until 1812: owned by the Corner family
- 1817: damaged by another fire
- After 1935: restored, and home to the offices of the Prefecture
- Today: seat of the Prefecture of Venice and of the Metropolitan City of Venice
- GPS: 45.43171, 12.33180 · Open in Google Maps
History
The Corner were among the grandest families of Venice, and the most famous of them was Caterina Cornaro, queen of Cyprus. After her death in 1510 her brother Giorgio bought the Gothic Palazzo Malombra on the Grand Canal. On the night of 15 to 16 August 1532 it burned down.
The family decided to rebuild on a scale that would leave no doubt about who lived there, and gave the work to Jacopo Sansovino. He planned the house as a sequence of views from the water front through the entrance hall to a large inner courtyard. The Corner owned it until 1812. A fire damaged it in 1817, and a century later bombs hit its right-hand side. After a restoration in 1935 it received the offices of the Prefecture, and it is still the seat of the Prefecture and of the Metropolitan City of Venice, which succeeded the Province.
What you see
The whole front is white stone. The ground floor is rusticated, with three tall arched water gates at the centre opening onto the canal. Above it the two main floors run as continuous rows of arched windows, each framed by paired columns, under a heavy cornice. The Italian flags hanging from the windows are the only sign that this is an office of the State. The palace is best seen from across the canal, from the Dorsoduro side, as in this photograph.
Nearby
- Peggy Guggenheim Collection — directly across the Grand Canal
- Palazzo Pisani Gritti — a little downstream on the same side
- Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti — upstream, by the Accademia bridge
Sources
- Prefettura di Venezia, Il Palazzo: Caterina Cornaro and her brother Giorgio, Palazzo Malombra and the fire of 15–16 August 1532, the Corner ownership until 1812, the fire of 1817, the bomb damage, the 1935 restoration and the Prefecture
- Wikipedia (English), Palazzo Corner della Ca’ Grande: the fire of 1532 and Sansovino’s design
- Città metropolitana di Venezia: the palace as the historic seat of the Metropolitan City
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