On the corner where Via Garibaldi meets the water, a Gothic palace carries the city’s tribute to John Cabot, who reached Newfoundland in 1497, and to his son Sebastian.
At a glance
Palazzo Caboto is a fifteenth-century palace at the corner of Via Garibaldi and the Riva dei Sette Martiri, in Castello. The Italian Wikipedia records it as the Venetian residence of the navigator Giovanni Caboto, John Cabot, and of his son Sebastiano. On the Via Garibaldi front are two plaques: one placed by the City of Venice in 1881, the other, in English and French, by Newfoundland and Labrador.
Key facts
- Building: fifteenth-century palace, corner of Via Garibaldi and Riva dei Sette Martiri
- Associated with: Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) and his son Sebastiano
- City plaque: placed by the Comune di Venezia in 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI)
- Second plaque: in English and French, from Newfoundland and Labrador
- What the 1881 plaque says: that the Cabots lived in this contrada, the neighbourhood
- GPS: 45.43194, 12.35131 · Open in Google Maps
History
Giovanni Caboto reached Newfoundland in 1497; his son Sebastiano was a cosmographer and navigator in his own right. The City of Venice honoured them in 1881 with the plaque on this palace, and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador added its own.
The 1881 plaque is careful. It does not say the Cabots lived in this house: it honours them as great citizens che abitarono questa contrada, who lived in this part of the city. The identification with this palace is the one the Italian Wikipedia reports.
What you see
A tall plastered front with pointed Gothic windows, small stone balconies and a row of tall Venetian chimneys on the roof. On the Via Garibaldi side, under a winged lion of Saint Mark, the marble of 1881 reads: GIOVANNI CABOTO EMULO A COLOMBO SCOPRÌ TERRANOVA E IL CONTINENTE SETTENTRIONALE DEL NUOVO MONDO; SEBASTIANO CABOTO COSMOGRAFO NAVIGATORE CONOBBE PRIMO IL PARAGUAY ADDITÒ IL PASSAGGIO DEL MARE GLACIALE.
Nearby
- Ponte de la Veneta Marina — fifty metres off, where the Riva dei Sette Martiri begins
- San Biagio — the navy’s church, a short walk west
Gallery
Sources
- The city plaque of 1881 on the Via Garibaldi front (photographed by Stefano Vigolo in 2014: see the gallery)
- Via Garibaldi (Venezia), Italian Wikipedia: the fifteenth-century palace, its identification as the Cabots’ residence, and the two plaques of 1881 and of Newfoundland and Labrador
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