Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and alongside her dearly departed lapdogs in 1979. Through the gardens is a
pavilion
hous-
ing a sunny cafe, a bookshop and temporary exhibits highlighting modernist rebels.
Ca' Rezzonico
MUSEUM
(Museum of the 18th Century; 041 241 01 00;
www.visitmuve.it
; Fondamenta Rezzonico 3136; adult/
reduced €8/5.50; 10am-6pm Wed-Mon Apr-Oct, to 5pm Nov-Mar; Ca' Rezzonico)
Baroque
dreams come true at Baldassare Longhena's Grand Canal palace, where a marble staircase
leads to gilded ballrooms, frescoed salons and sumptuous boudoirs. Giambattista
Tiepolo's
Throne Room
ceiling is a masterpiece of elegant social climbing, showing gor-
geous Merit ascending to the Temple of Glory clutching the Golden Book of Venetian
nobles' names - including Tiepolo's patrons, the Rezzonico family.
In the
Pietro Longhi Salon
, sweeping Grand Canal views are upstaged by the artist's win-
some satires of society antics observed by disapproving lapdogs.
Sala Rosalba Carriera
fea-
tures Carriera's wry social portraits, and Giandomenico Tiepolo's swinging court jesters
add humour to Zianigo Villa frescoes.
Check at the front desk for chamber-music concerts in the trompe l'œil frescoed ball-
room.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
SQUERO DI SAN TROVASO
San Trovaso may look like a stray ski chalet, but it's one of Venice's three working
squeri
(shipyards),
with refinished gondolas drying in the yard. When the door's open, you can peek inside in exchange
for a donation left in the can by the door. To avoid startling gondola builders working with sharp tools,
no flash photography is allowed.
Punta della Dogana
GALLERY
( 041 271 90 39;
www.palazzograssi.it
; adult/reduced €15/10, incl Palazzo Grassi €20/15;
10am-7pm Wed-Mon; Salute)
Fortuna, the weathervane atop Punta della Dogana, swung
Venice's way in 2005, when bureaucratic hassles in Paris convinced billionaire art collect-
or François Pinault to showcase his artworks in these long-abandoned customs houses.
Originally built by Giuseppe Benoni in 1677 to ensure no ship entered the Grand Canal
