Grand Canal (Venice)

Two gondoliers pull out with clients on board from a row of gondolas on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge.

The Grand Canal from Ponte dell'Accademia; in the foreground Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti, in the distance Santa Maria della Salute

The Grand Canal viewed from space in 2001

The Grand Canal (Italian: Canal grande [kaˈnal ˈɡrande], Venetian: Canałasso [kanaˈɰaso]) 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.

One end of 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 3.8 km long, and 30 to 90 m wide, with an average depth of five meters (16.5 ft).

Description

The Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, shot southwards from Rialto Bridge

The Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, shot at night from Rialto Bridge

The Grand Canal in Venice from Palazzo Flangini to Campo San Marcuola, Canaletto, about 1738. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

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

The Fondaco dei Turchi

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

Ca' d'Oro

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

Santa Maria della Salute

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

The Pescheria at Rialto

After the fall of the Republic in 1797, much of the palatial construction in Venice was suspended, as symbolized by the unfinished San Marcuola and Palazzo Venier dei Leoni (housing the Peggy Guggenheim Collection). The Patrician families, bereft of their hereditary role in governance and sometimes persecuted by revolutionary forces, sought other residences. Several historical palaces were pulled down, but many found other uses, and some restorations have saved their 18th century appearance. By the late 20th century, most of the more prominent palaces were owned by the city, state, or civic institutions.

During the era of the Kingdom of Italy, the Napoleonic suppression of the monastic religious orders vacated large sectors of real estate in the city. It also freed large amounts of furnishings and works of art into the antiquarian market or into the possession of the state. Large monasteries changed functions: the Santa Maria della Carità complex became a museum, the Gallerie dell'Accademia); the Santa Croce complex, was converted into the Papadopoli Gardens area; and the Santa Lucia complex (partially designed by Palladio) was razed for the establishment of the 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

Gondolas on the Grand Canal

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.

Panorama of the Grand Canal

Itinerary

RIGHT SIDE	LEFT SIDE
Ponte della Libertà
Ex Monastery of Santa Chiara (now Questura or Police Precint)	Railway area
~~Canal of Santa Chiara~~
Ponte della Costituzione
Piazzale Roma vaporetto station	Old Railway Station buildings
~~Rio Novo~~
Papadopoli Gardens
~~Rio della Croce~~
Palazzo Emo Diedo	Santa Lucia Train Station
Wool-cloth Weavers Guildhall
Church of San Simeone Piccolo
Palazzo Adoldo
Palazzo Foscari-Contarini	Church of Santa Maria di Nazareth or Scalzi
Ponte degli Scalzi
~~Rio Marin~~	Ferrovia vaporetto station
Campo San Simeon Grande	Palazzo Calbo Crotta
	~~Rio Tera' dei Sabbioni~~
Palazzo Gritti	Palazzo Flangini
Palazzo Corner	Scuola dei Morti
Palazzo Donà Balbi	San Geremia
Palazzo Donà Balbi	Palazzo Labia
Riva di Biasio vaporetto station	~~Canale di Cannaregio~~
Palazzo Marcello Toderini	Palazzo Emo a San Leonardo
	Palazzo Querini
~~Rio di San Zan Degolà~~	Palazzo Correr Contarini Zorzi
Palazzo Giovanelli	Palazzo Gritti
Casa Correr	San Marcuola
Traghetto Museo	Traghetto San Marcuola
Fondaco dei Turchi (Museum of Natural History)	San Marcuola vaporetto station
~~Rio del Fondaco dei Turchi~~	~~Rio di San Marcuola~~
Fondaco del Megio	Ca' Vendramin Calergi; winter home of Casino
Palazzo Belloni Battagia
~~Rio di Ca' Tron~~
Ca' Tron (IUAV)	Palazzo Marcello
Palazzo Duodo	Palazzo Erizzo alla Maddalena
Palazzo Priuli Bon	Palazzo Soranzo Piovene
San Stae vaporetto station	Palazzo Emo alla Maddalena
San Stae	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 (Museum of Modern Art)	~~Rio di Noale~~
~~Rio di Ca' Pesaro (or delle Due Torri)~~	Palazzetto da Lezze
Palazzo Donà a Santa Croce	Palazzo Boldù a San Felice
Palazzo Correggio	Palazzo Contarini Pisani
Ca' Corner della Regina
Ca' Favretto	~~Rio di San Felice~~
Rio di San Cassiano	Palazzo Fontana Rezzonico
Palazzo Morosini Brandolin	100x50px Palazzo Giusti
Fondamenta dell'Olio	Ca' d'Oro (Galleria Giorgio Franchetti)
	Ca' d'Oro vaporetto station
Palazzo della Pretura	Palazzo Giustinian Pesaro
~~Rio delle Beccarie~~	Ca' Sagredo
Pescaria	Campo and Traghetto Santa Sofia
Campo and Traghetto della Pescaria	Palazzetto Foscari
	Palazzo Michiel dalle Colonne
Fabbriche Nuove	Palazzo Michiel del Brusà
	Palazzo Smith Mangilli Valmarana
	~~Rio dei Santi Apostoli~~
	Ca' da Mosto
	Palazzo Bollani Erizzo
	~~Rio di San Giovanni Crisostomo~~
Fabbriche Vecchie	Campiello del Remer
	Palazzo Civran
	Casa Perducci
	Palazzo Ruzzini
~~Rio del Fontego dei Tedeschi~~
Palazzo dei Camerlenghi	Fondaco dei Tedeschi (Poste italiane)
Rialto Bridge
Palazzo dei Dieci Savi (Scarpagnino)	Riva del Ferro
Fondamenta del Vin	Rialto vaporetto station
	Palazzo Dolfin Manin (Banca d'Italia)
	~~Rio di San Salvador~~
	Palazzo Bembo
	Traghetto Rialto
Traghetto San Silvestro	Ca' Loredan (City Hall)
Casa Ravà	Ca' Farsetti (City Hall)
San Silvestro vaporetto station	Palazzo Cavalli (or Palazzo Corner Martinengo)
Palazzo Barzizza	Palazzo Corner Valmarana
Palazzo Giustinian Businello	Palazzo Grimani di San Luca (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 a San Polo	~~Rio di Ca' Michiel~~
Palazzo Querini Dubois	Palazzo Curti Valmarana
Palazzo Grimani Marcello	Palazzo Corner Spinelli
Ca' Cappello Layard	Sant'Angelo vaporetto station
~~Rio di San Polo~~	Casa Barocci
Palazzo Barbarigo della Terrazza	~~Rio di Ca' Garzoni~~
Palazzo Pisani Moretta	Palazzo Garzoni
Palazzo Tiepolo	Traghetto Garzoni
Palazzo Tiepolo Passi	Fondaco Marcello
Palazzo Giustinian Persico	Palazzo Corner Gheltoff
	Palazzo Mocenigo#1
~~Rio di San Tomà~~	Palazzo Mocenigo#2
	Palazzo Mocenigo#3
Traghetto San Tomà
Palazzo Marcello dei Leoni
Palazzo Dolfin
San Tomà/Frari vaporetto station
Palazzo Dandolo Paolucci
Palazzo Civran Grimani
Rio della Frescada	Palazzo Contarini delle Figure
Palazzo Caotorta-Angaran
Palazzo Balbi (Government of Veneto)	Palazzo Erizzo Nani Mocenigo
Rio di Ca' Foscari
Ca' Foscari (University of Venice)	Palazzo Da Lezze
Palazzi Giustinian	Palazzo Moro-Lin
Ca' Bernardo
Palazzo Bernardo Nani	Palazzo Grassi
Ca' Rezzonico (Museum of 18th-century Venice)
Rio di San Barnaba	San Samuele
Palazzo Contarini Michiel	San Samuele vaporetto station
Ca' Rezzonico vaporetto station	Casa Francheschinis
Traghetto San Barnaba	Traghetto San Samuele
Palazzetto Stern	Palazzo Malipiero
~~Rio Malpaga~~
Palazzo Moro
Palazzo Loredan dell'Ambasciatore
Casa Mainella
~~Rio di San Trovaso~~
Palazzi Contarini degli Scrigni and Corfù	Ca' del Duca
	~~Rio del Duca~~
	Palazzo Falier Canossa
Palazzo Mocenigo Gambara	Palazzo Giustinian Lolin
Palazzo Querini
Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Carità (Gallerie dell'Accademia)	Palazzo Civran Badoer Barozzi
Accademia vaporetto station	~~Rio di San Vidal~~
Santa Maria della Carità (Gallery of Accademia museum)	Campo San Vidal
Ponte dell'Accademia
Palazzo Brandolin Rota	Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti (Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti)
Palazzo Contarini Dal Zaffo
Palazzo Balbi Valier	Palazzi Barbaro
Palazzo Loredan-Cini	Palazzo Benzon Foscolo
~~Rio di San Vio~~	Palazzetto Pisani
Campo San Vio	Rio del Santissimo
Palazzo Barbarigo	Palazzo Succi
Palazzo Da Mula	Casa Stecchini
Palazzo Centani Morosini
Ca' Biondetti	Casina delle Rose
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni (Peggy Guggenheim Collection)	Palazzo Corner della Ca' Grande (Province of Venice Prefecture)
Casa Artom [1]
~~Rio delle Torreselle~~	~~Rio di San Maurizio~~
Palazzo Dario	Palazzo Minotto
Palazzo Barbaro Wolkoff	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 San Gregorio	Traghetto Santa Maria del Giglio
Casa Santomaso	Palazzo Pisani Gritti
Palazzo Genovese	Rio delle Ostreghe
San Gregorio ex-abbey	Palazzo Ferro Fini (Regional Council of Veneto)
~~Rio della Salute~~
Salute vaporetto station	Palazzo Contarini Fasan
Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute	Palazzo Contarini
	Palazzo Michiel Alvise
Patriarchal Seminary	Palazzo Badoer Tiepolo
Punta della Dogana	Palazzo Barozzi Emo Treves de Bonfili
	Rio di San Moisè
	Hotel Bauer
	Ca' Giustinian (municipal Venice Biennale offices)
	Palazzo Vallaresso Erizzo
	Harry's Bar
	San Marco/Vallaresso vaporetto station
	Fonteghetto della Farina
	Venice Pavilion

See also

• List of buildings and structures in Venice
• Republic of Venice

Notes

References

• 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. 3^a 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.

External links

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Route map: Bing / Google