Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MUSEO DIOCESANO DI VENEZIA
MAP
MUSEUM
GOOGLE MAP
( 041 522 91 66;
www.veneziaubc.org
;
Chiostro di Sant'Apollonia 4312; adult/ reduced €4/2.50, cloister only €1;
10am-5pm Thu-Tue; San Zaccaria)
Housed in a former Benedictine monastery dedicated to
Sant'Apollonia, this museum has a fairly predictable collection of religious art and the oc-
casional standout temporary show - but the exquisite Romanesque cloister is the sole ex-
ample of the genre in Venice. The adjoining building was a church until 1906, and now
houses exhibition spaces.
PALAZZO GRIMANI
MAP
MUSEUM
GOOGLE MAP
( 041 520 03 45;
www.palazzogrimani.org
;
Ramo Grimani 4858; adult/reduced €7/6; 8.15am-2pm Mon,
8.15am-7.15pm Tue-Sun; Ospedale, Rialto)
The Grimani family built their Renaissance
palazzo
to house an extraordinary Graeco-Roman collection, which was destined to become the
basis of the archaeological museum now housed in the Museo Correr (
Click here
).
Unusually for Venice, the palace has a Roman-style courtyard, which shed a flattering
light on the archaeological curiosities. These days, the empty halls host temporary exhibi-
tions, though their bedazzling frescoed interiors are reason enough to visit.
There is debate about who designed the building. However, it's certain that Giovanni
Grimani (1501-93) himself played a large role in a design that consciously recalls the
glories of ancient Rome. Grimani also hired a dream team of fresco painters specialising
in fanciful grotesques and Pompeii-style mythological scenes. Francesco Salviati applied
the glowing, Raphael-style colours he'd used in Rome's Palazzo Farnese, while Roman
painter Giovanni da Udine, considered among the brightest pupils of Raphael and Gior-
gione, devoted three rooms to the stories of Ovid.
The Sala ai Fogliami (Foliage Room) is the most memorable, though. Painted by
Mantovano, ceiling and walls are awash with remarkably convincing plant and bird life.
They even include New World species that had only recently been discovered by
Europeans, including two that would come to be staples of Venetian life: tobacco and
corn.
PALAZZO QUERINI STAMPALIA
( 041 271 14 11;
www.querinistampalia.it
; Campiello Querini Stampalia 5252; Rialto, San Zaccaria)
In 1869
Conte Giovanni Querini Stampalia made a gift of his ancestral
palazzo
to the city on the
forward-thinking condition that its 700-year-old library operate late-night openings.
Downstairs, savvy drinkers take their
aperitivi
with a twist of high modernism in the
MUSEUM
