Grand Canal (Venice)
The Grand Canal (Italian: Canal Grande, Venetian: Canałasso) is a canal in Venice, Italy. It forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city. Public transport is provided by water buses (Italian: vaporetti) and private water taxis, and many tourists explore the canal by gondola.
At one end, the canal leads into the lagoon near the Santa Lucia railway station and the other end leads into Saint Mark Basin; in between, it makes a large reverse-S shape through the central districts (sestieri) of Venice. It is 3,800 m long, 30–90 m wide, with an average depth of five meters (16.5 ft).
Description
The banks of the Grand Canal are lined with more than 170 buildings, most of which date from the 13th to the 18th century, and demonstrate the welfare and art created by the Republic of Venice. The noble Venetian families faced huge expenses to show off their richness in suitable palazzos; this contest reveals the citizens’ pride and the deep bond with the lagoon. Amongst the many are the Palazzi Barbaro, Ca' Rezzonico, Ca' d'Oro, Palazzo Dario, Ca' Foscari, Palazzo Barbarigo and to Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, housing the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. The churches along the canal include the basilica of Santa Maria della Salute. Centuries-old traditions, such as the Historical Regatta, are perpetuated every year along the Canal.
Because most of the city's traffic goes along the Canal rather than across it, only one bridge crossed the canal until the 19th century, the Rialto Bridge. There are currently three more bridges, the Ponte degli Scalzi, the Ponte dell'Accademia, and the recent, controversial Ponte della Costituzione, designed by Santiago Calatrava, connecting the train station to Piazzale Roma, one of the few places in Venice where buses and cars can enter. As was usual in the past, people can still take a ferry ride across the canal at several points by standing up on the deck of a simple gondola called a traghetto, although this service is less common than even a decade ago.
Most of the palaces emerge from water without pavement. Consequently, one can only tour past the fronts of the buildings on the grand canal by boat.
History
The first settlements
The Grand Canal probably follows the course of an ancient river(possibly a branch of the Brenta) flowing into the lagoon. Adriatic Veneti groups already lived beside the formerly-named "Rio Businiacus" before the Roman age. They lived in stilt houses and on fishing and commerce (mainly salt). Under the rule of the Roman empire and later of the Byzantine empire the lagoon became populated and important, and in the early 9th century the doge moved his seat from Malamocco to the safer "Rivoaltus".
Increasing trade followed the doge and found in the deep Grand Canal a safe and ship accessible canal-port. Drainage reveals that the city became more compact over time: at that time the Canal was wider and flowed between small, tide-subjected islands connected by wooden bridges.
"Fondaco" houses
Along the Canal, the number of "fondaco" houses increased, buildings combining the warehouse and the merchant's residence.
A portico (the curia) covers the bank and facilitates the ships' unloading. From the portico a corridor flanked by storerooms reaches a posterior courtyard. Similarly, on the first floor a loggia as large as the portico illuminates the hall into which open the merchant's rooms. The façade is thereby divided into an airy central part and two more solid sides. A low mezzanine with offices divides the two floors.
The fondaco house often had two lateral defensive towers (torreselle), as in the Fondaco dei Turchi (13th century, heavily restored in the 19th). With the German warehouse, the Fondaco dei Tedeschi (which is also situated on the Grand Canal), it reflects the high number of foreign merchants working in Venice, where the republic supplied them with storerooms and lodging and simultaneously controlled their trading activity.
More public buildings were built along the Canal at Rialto: palaces for commercial and financial Benches (Palazzo dei Camerlenghi and Palazzo dei Dieci Savi, rebuilt after 1514 fire) and a mint. In 1181 Nicolò Barattieri constructed a pontoon bridge connecting Rialto to Mercerie area, which was later replaced by a wooden bridge with shops on it. Warehouses for flour and salt were more peripheral.
The Venetian-Byzantine style
From the Byzantine empire, goods arrived together with sculptures, friezes, columns and capitals to decorate the fondaco houses of patrician families. The Byzantine art merged with previous elements resulting in a Venetian-Byzantine style; in architecture it was characterized by large loggias with round or elongated arches and by polychrome marbles abundance.
Along the Grand Canal, these elements are well preserved in Ca' Farsetti, Ca' Loredan (both municipal seats) and Ca' da Mosto, all dating back to the 12th or 13th century. During this period Rialto had an intense building development, determining the conformation of the Canal and surrounding areas. As a matter of fact, in Venice building materials are precious and foundations are usually kept: in the subsequent restorations, existing elements will be used again, mixing the Venetian-Byzantine and the new styles (Ca' Sagredo, Palazzo Bembo). Polychromy, three-partitioned façades, loggias, diffuse openings and rooms disposition formed a particular architectural taste that continued in the future.
The Fourth Crusade, with the loot obtained from the sack of Constantinople (1204), and other historical situations, gave Venice an Eastern influence until the late 14th century.
Venetian Gothic
Venetian Gothic architecture found favor quite late, as a splendid flamboyant Gothic ("gotico fiorito") beginning with the southern façade of the Doge's Palace. The verticality and the illumination characterizing the Gothic style are found in the porticos and loggias of fondaco houses: columns get thinner, elongated arches are replaced by pointed or ogee or lobed ones. Porticos rise gently intertwining and drawing open marbles in quatrefoils or similar figures. Façades were plastered in brilliant colors.
The open marble fascias, often referred as "laces", quickly diffused along the Grand Canal. Among the 15th-century palaces still showing the original appearance are Ca' d'Oro, Palazzo Bernardo, Ca' Foscari (now housing the University of Venice), Palazzo Pisani Moretta, Palazzi Barbaro, Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti.
Renaissance
By the start of the 15th century, Renaissance architecture motifs appear in such buildings as the Palazzo Dario and the Palazzo Corner Spinelli; the latter was designed by Mauro Codussi, pioneer of this style in Venice. Ca' Vendramin Calergi, another of his projects (now hosting the Casino), reveals a completed transition: the numerous and large windows with open marbles are round-arched and have columns in the three classical orders.
Classical architecture is more evident in Jacopo Sansovino's projects, who arrived from Rome in 1527. Along the Canal he designed Palazzo Corner and Palazzo Dolfin Manin, known for grandiosity, for the horizontal layout of the white façades and for the development around a central courtyard. Other Renaissance buildings are Palazzo Papadopoli and Palazzo Grimani di San Luca. Several palaces of this period had façades with frescoes by painters such as Il Pordenone, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, all of them unfortunately lost. Particularly noteworthy were the frescoes by Veronese and Zelotti on Ca Cappello, overlooking the Grand Canal at the intersection with the Rio de S. Polo.
Venetian Baroque
In 1582, Alessandro Vittoria began the construction of Palazzo Balbi (now housing the Government of Veneto), in which Baroque elements can be recognized: fashioned cornices, broken pediments, ornamental motifs.
The major Baroque architect in Venice was Baldassarre Longhena. In 1631 he began to build the magnificent Santa Maria della Salute basilica, one of the most beautiful churches in Venice and a symbol of Grand Canal. The classical layout of the façade features decorations and by many statues, the latter crowning also the refined volutes surrounding the major dome.
Longhena later designed two majestic palaces like Ca' Pesaro and Ca' Rezzonico (with many carvings and chiaroscuro effects) and Santa Maria di Nazareth church (Chiesa degli Scalzi). For various reasons the great architect did not see any of these buildings finished, and the designs for all but Santa Maria della Salute were modified after his death.
Longhena's themes recur in the two older façades of Palazzo Labia, containing a famous fresco cycle by Giambattista Tiepolo. In the Longhenian school grew Domenico Rossi (San Stae's façade, Ca' Corner della Regina) and Giorgio Massari, who later completed Ca' Rezzonico.
The 16th and 17th centuries mark the beginning of the Republic's decline, but nevertheless they saw the highest building activity on the Grand Canal. This can be partially explained by the increasing number of families (like the Labia) becoming patrician by the payment of an enormous sum to the Republic, which was then facing financial difficulties. Once these families had achieved this new status, they built themselves with impressive residences on the Canal, often inducing other families to renew theirs.
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architectures along the Canal date to 18th century: during the first half was built San Simeone Piccolo, with an impressive corinthian portico, central plan and a high copper-covered dome ending in a cupola shaped as a temple. Date to the second half Massari's Palazzo Grassi.
Modern era
After the fall of the Republic 1797, construction of housing in Venice was suspended, as symbolized by the unfinished San Marcuola and Palazzo Venier dei Leoni (housing the Peggy Guggenheim Collection). Patrician families lost their desire of self-exaltation and many of them died out. Several historical palaces were pulled down, but most of them survived and good restorations have saved their 18th century appearance. The most important are publicly owned and host institutions and museums.
Religious buildings underwent the consequences of religious orders suppression decreed by Napoleon in the Kingdom of Italy period. Many churches and monasteries were deprived of furnishings and works of art, changed their function (like Santa Maria della Carità complex, now housing the Gallerie dell'Accademia) or were demolished. The Santa Croce complex, for which the Sestiere was named, was situated in Papadopoli Gardens area; Santa Lucia complex (partially designed by Palladio) was razed to the ground to build Santa Lucia Station.
The Kingdom of Italy accession restored serenity in the city and stimulated construction along the Grand Canal respecting its beauty, often reproduced in Gothic Revival architectures like the Pescaria at Rialto.
Events
Historical Regatta
On the first Sunday of September takes place the Historical Regatta ("Regata Storica"), a competition between Venetian boats watched by thousands of people from the banks or from floating stands. Competitions are preceded by a historical procession ("Corteo Storico") remembering the entrance of the Queen of Cyprus Catherine Cornaro after abdication in 1489: gondoliers in costumes sail in typical 16th century boats following the Bucentaur, doge's state galley.
The Feast-day of the Madonna della Salute
On November 21, Venetians thank the Virgin Mary for saving from the plague epidemic in 1630-38 with a pilgrimage to Santa Maria della Salute. Pilgrims cross Grand Canal on a temporary pontoon bridge from Campo Santa Maria Zobenigo, and enjoy stalls and traditional dishes.
Itinerary
| RIGHT SIDE | LEFT SIDE |
|---|---|
| Ponte della Libertà | |
| Santa Chiara ex-monastery (Police Headquarters) | Railway area |
| Canale di Santa Chiara | |
| Ponte della Costituzione | |
| Piazzale Roma vaporetto station | Railway Department old seat |
| Rio Novo | |
| Papadopoli Gardens | |
| Rio della Croce | |
| Palazzo Emo Diedo (Tirali, 17th century) | Santa Lucia Station |
| Wool-cloth Weavers Guildhall | |
| San Simeone Piccolo (18th century) | |
| Palazzo Adoldo | |
| Palazzo Foscari-Contarini | Santa Maria di Nazareth or Chiesa degli Scalzi |
| Ponte degli Scalzi | |
| Rio Marin | Ferrovia vaporetto station |
| Campo San Simeon Grande | Palazzo Calbo Crotta |
| Rio Tera' dei Sabbioni | |
| Palazzo Gritti | Palazzo Flangini (Giuseppe Sardi, 16th century) |
| Palazzo Corner | Scuola dei Morti (Confraternity praying at funerals) |
| Palazzo Donà Balbi | San Geremia (18th century) |
| Palazzo Zen | Palazzo Labia (17th century, frescoes by Giambattista Tiepolo) |
| Riva di Biasio vaporetto station | Canale di Cannaregio |
| Palazzo Marcello Toderini | Palazzo Emo |
| Palazzo Querini | |
| Rio di San Zan Degolà | Palazzo Correr Contarini Zorzi |
| Palazzo Giovanelli | Palazzo Gritti |
| Casa Correr | San Marcuola (18th century, unfinished) |
| Traghetto Museo | Traghetto San Marcuola |
| Fondaco dei Turchi (Venetian-Byzantine, Venetian Museum of Natural History) | San Marcuola vaporetto station |
| Rio del Fondaco dei Turchi | Rio di San Marcuola |
| Fondaco del Megio | Ca' Vendramin Calergi (Mauro Codussi, Renaissance, 15th-16th century; Wagner died here; Casino winter seat) |
| Palazzo Belloni Battagia (Baldassare Longhena, Baroque, 17th century) | |
| Rio di Ca' Tron | |
| Ca' Tron (16th century, IUAV) | Palazzo Marcello (Benedetto Marcello was born here) |
| Palazzo Duodo | Palazzo Erizzo |
| Palazzo Priuli Bon | Palazzo Soranzo Piovene |
| San Stae vaporetto station | Palazzo Emo at Maddalena |
| San Stae (18th century) | Palazzo Molin Querini |
| Gold Craftsmen Guildhall | Rio della Maddalena |
| Rio della Rioda | Palazzo and Palazzetto Barbarigo |
| Palazzo Coccina Giunti Foscarini Giovannelli | |
| Rio della Pergola | Palazzo Gussoni Grimani Della Vida |
| Ca' Pesaro (Longhena, Baroque, 17th century, Museum of Modern Art) | Rio di Noale |
| Rio di Ca' Pesaro (or delle Due Torri) | Palazzetto da Lezze |
| Palazzo Donà | Palazzo Boldù |
| Palazzo Correggio | Palazzo Contarini Pisani |
| Ca' Corner della Regina (18th century; Caterina Cornaro was born in a previous palazzo on the same area) | |
| Ca' Favretto (Giacomo Favretto lived here) | Rio di San Felice |
| Rio di San Cassiano | Palazzo Fontana Rezzonico (Pope Clement XIII was born here) |
| Palazzo Morosini Brandolin | Palazzo Giusti |
| Fondamenta dell'Olio | Ca' d'Oro (Gothic, 15th century, Galleria Franchetti) |
| Ca' d'Oro vaporetto station | |
| Palazzo della Pretura | Palazzo Giustinian Pesaro |
| Rio delle Beccarie | Ca' Sagredo |
| Pescaria (Gothic Revival, 20th century) | Campo Santa Sofia |
| Traghetto Pescaria | Traghetto Santa Sofia |
| Campo della Pescaria | Palazzetto Foscari |
| Palazzo Michiel dalle Colonne | |
| Fabbriche Nuove (Sansovino, 16th century) | Palazzo Michiel del Brusà |
| Palazzo Smith Mangilli Valmarana | |
| Rio dei Santi Apostoli | |
| Ca' da Mosto (Venetian-Byzantine, 13th century) | |
| Palazzo Bollani Erizzo (Pietro Aretino lived here) | |
| Rio di San Giovanni Crisostomo | |
| Fabbriche Vecchie (Scarpagnino, 16th century) | Campiello del Remer |
| Palazzo Civran | |
| Palazzo Ruzzini | |
| Rio del Fontego dei Tedeschi | |
| Palazzo dei Camerlenghi (Renaissance, 16th century) | Fondaco dei Tedeschi (16th century, Poste italiane seat in Venice) |
| Rialto Bridge | |
| Palazzo dei Dieci Savi (Scarpagnino, 16th century) | Riva del Ferro |
| Fondamenta del Vin | Rialto vaporetto station |
| Palazzo Dolfin Manin (Sansovino, Renaissance, 16th century, Banca d'Italia Venice seat) | |
| Rio di San Salvador | |
| Palazzo Bembo (Gothic, 15th century; Pietro Bembo was born here) | |
| Traghetto Rialto | |
| Traghetto San Silvestro | Ca' Loredan (Venetian-Byzantine, 13th century, Municipal seat) |
| Casa Ravà (Gothic Revival, 20th century) | Ca' Farsetti (Venetian-Byzantine, 12th-13th century, Municipal seat) |
| San Silvestro vaporetto station | Palazzo Cavalli (or Palazzo Corner Martinengo) |
| Palazzo Barzizza | Palazzo Corner Valmarana |
| Palazzo Giustinian Businello | Palazzo Grimani di San Luca (Renaissance, 16th century, Appellate court) |
| Rio dei Meloni | Rio di San Luca |
| Palazzo Papadopoli | Palazzo Corner Contarini dei Cavalli |
| Palazzo Tron | |
| Palazzo Donà | Palazzo D'Anna Viaro Martinengo Volpi di Misurata |
| Palazzo Donà della Madoneta | |
| Rio della Madoneta | Palazzo Querini Benzon |
| Palazzo Bernardo (Gothic, 15th century) | Rio di Ca' Michiel |
| Palazzo Querini Dubois | Palazzo Curti Valmarana |
| Palazzo Grimani Marcello | Palazzo Corner Spinelli (Codussi, Renaissance, 15th century) |
| Ca' Cappello | Sant'Angelo vaporetto station |
| Rio di San Polo | Casa Barocci |
| Palazzo Barbarigo della Terrazza (16th century) | Rio di Ca' Garzoni |
| Palazzo Pisani Moretta (Gothic, 15th century) | Palazzo Garzoni |
| Palazzo Tiepolo | Traghetto Garzoni |
| Palazzo Tiepolo Passi | Fondaco Marcello |
| Palazzo Giustinian Persico | Palazzo Corner Gheltoff |
| Rio di San Tomà | Palazzi Mocenigo (16th-17th century; Giordano Bruno, Thomas Moore and Lord Byron stayed here) |
| Traghetto San Tomà | |
| Palazzo Marcello dei Leoni | |
| Palazzo Dolfin | |
| San Tomà/Frari vaporetto station | |
| Palazzo Dandolo | |
| Palazzo Civran Grimani | |
| Rio della Frescada | Palazzo Contarini delle Figure (Andrea Palladio stayed here) |
| Palazzo Caotorta-Angaran | |
| Palazzo Balbi (Vittoria, Renaissance with Baroque elements, 16th century; Government of Veneto seat) | Palazzo Erizzo Nani Mocenigo |
| Rio di Ca' Foscari | |
| Ca' Foscari (Gothic, 15th century; University of Venice main seat) | Palazzo Da Lezze |
| Palazzi Giustinian (Gothic, 15th century; Richard Wagner stayed here) | Palazzo Moro-Lin |
| Ca' Bernardo | |
| Palazzo Bernardo Nani | Palazzo Grassi (Massari, Neoclassical, 18th century) |
| Ca' Rezzonico (Longhena, Massari; 17th-18th century; Museum of 18th century-Century Culture) | |
| Rio di San Barnaba | San Samuele |
| Palazzo Contarini Michiel | San Samuele vaporetto station |
| Ca' Rezzonico vaporetto station | Casa Francheschinis (20th century) |
| Traghetto San Barnaba | Traghetto San Samuele |
| Palazzetto Stern | Palazzo Malipiero |
| Rio Malpaga | |
| Palazzo Moro ("Otello's house") | |
| Palazzo Loredan dell'Ambasciatore (Gothic, 15th century) | |
| Casa Mainella | |
| Rio di San Trovaso | |
| Palazzi Contarini degli Scrigni and Corfù | Ca' del Duca |
| Rio del Duca | |
| Palazzo Falier | |
| Palazzo Mocenigo Gambara | Palazzo Giustinian Lolin (Longhena, 17th century) |
| Palazzo Querini | |
| Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Carità (Massari, 18th century; Gallerie dell'Accademia) | Palazzo Civran Badoer Barozzi |
| Accademia vaporetto station | Rio di San Vidal |
| Santa Maria della Carità (Gothic, 15th century; deconsecrated, now part of Gallerie dell'Accademia museum) | Campo San Vidal |
| Ponte dell'Accademia | |
| Palazzo Brandolin Rota (Toti dal Monte owned it) | Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti (Gothic, 15th century; Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti) |
| Palazzo Contarini Dal Zaffo (Gothic and Renaissance elements, 15th century) | |
| Palazzo Balbi Valier | Palazzi Barbaro FOY |
| Palazzo Loredan (Cini Foundation) | Palazzo Benzon Foscolo |
| Rio di San Vio | Palazzetto Pisani |
| Campo San Vio | Rio del Santissimo |
| Palazzo Barbarigo (modern mosaics) | Palazzo Succi |
| Palazzo Da Mula | Casa Stecchini |
| Palazzo Centani Morosini | |
| Ca' Biondetti (Rosalba Carriera lived here) | Casina delle Rose (Antonio Canova and Gabriele D'Annunzio worked here) |
| Palazzo Venier dei Leoni (Peggy Guggenheim Collection) | Palazzo Corner della Ca' Granda (Sansovino, Renaissance, 16th century; Province of Venice and Prefect seat) |
| Casa Artom [1] | |
| Rio delle Torreselle | Rio di San Maurizio (Venice) |
| Palazzo Dario (Renaissance, 15th century) | Palazzo Minotto |
| Palazzo Barbaro Wolkoff (Eleonora Duse lived here) | Palazzo Barbarigo |
| Rio della Fornace | Rio di Santa Maria Zobenigo |
| Palazzo Salviati | Santa Maria del Giglio vaporetto station |
| Palazzo Orio Semitecolo Benzon | Palazzo Venier Contarini |
| Traghetto S.Gregorio | Traghetto S.Maria del Giglio |
| Casa Santomaso | Palazzo Pisani Gritti |
| Palazzo Genovese (Gothic Revival, 19th century) | Rio delle Ostreghe |
| San Gregorio ex-abbey | Palazzo Ferro Fini (Regional Council of Veneto) |
| Rio della Salute | |
| Salute vaporetto station | Palazzo Contarini Fasan (Gothic, 15th century; "Desdemona's house") |
| Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute (Longhena, Baroque, 17th century) | Palazzo Contarini |
| Palazzo Michiel Alvisi | |
| Patriarchal Seminary | Palazzo Badoer Tiepolo |
| Punta della Dogana | Palazzo Treves de Bonfili |
| Rio di San Moisè | |
| Hotel Bauer (Gothic Revival, 19th century) | |
| Ca' Giustinian (Gothic, 15th century; municipal, Venice Biennale offices) | |
| Palazzo Vallaresso Erizzo | |
| Harry's Bar | |
| San Marco/Vallaresso vaporetto station | |
| Fonteghetto della Farina (Renaissance, 15th century) | |
| Venice Pavilion | |
See also
Notes
- ↑ "house description". Wake Forest Venice. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Canal Grande (Venice). |
- A. Zorzi, P. Marton I Palazzi Veneziani – Magnus Ed., Udine 1989; ISBN 88-7057-083-5
- M. Brusegan La grande guida dei monumenti di Venezia - Newton & Compton Ed., Roma 2005; ISBN 88-541-0475-2.
- E. e W. Eleodori Il Canal Grande. Palazzi e Famiglie – Corbo e Fiore Editori, II ed., Venezia 2007; ISBN 88-7086-057-4.
- Guida d'Italia – Venezia. 3a ed. Milano, Touring Editore, 2007. ISBN 978-88-365-4347-2.
- Alvise Zorzi, P. Marton. I Palazzi Veneziani. Udine, Magnus, 1989. ISBN 88-7057-083-5.
- Venezia e provincia. Milano, Touring Editore, 2004. ISBN 88-365-2918-6.
- Raffaella Russo. Palazzi di Venezia. Venezia, Arsenale Ed., 1998. ISBN 88-7743-185-7.
- Umberto Franzoi, Mark Smith. Canal Grande. Venezia, Arsenale Ed., 1993. ISBN 88-7743-131-8.
- Giuseppe Mazzariol (a cura di). I Palazzi del Canal Grande. Novara, Istituto Geografico De Agostini, 1989.
- Gianjacopo Fontana. Venezia monumentale - I Palazzi. Venezia, Filippi Ed., 1967.
- Andrea Fasolo, Mark Smith. Palazzi di Venezia. Venezia, Arsenale Ed., 2003. ISBN 88-7743-295-0.
- The Art and Architecture of Venice
- Terisio Pignatti (a cura di). Le scuole di Venezia. Milano, Electa, 1981.
- Silvia Gramigna, Annalisa Perissa. Scuole di Arti, Mestieri e Devozione a Venezia. Venezia, Arsenale Coop
- Giuseppe Tassini. Curiosità Veneziane. Venezia, Filippi Ed., 2001.
Coordinates: 45°26′12″N 12°19′59″E / 45.43667°N 12.33306°E