Ca' Pesaro
Longhena started it in 1659, died before he could finish it, and Gaspari finally delivered the Grand Canal façade in 1710 — five decades in the making.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Venice offline.
A Baroque marble palace built for the wealthy Pesaro family, now an art museum holding ceiling paintings still in situ by Pittoni, Crosato, and Brusaferro. The original Pesaro collection ran to Bellini, Titian, and Tintoretto. The Grand Canal frontage is one of the most considered façades in Venice, designed by the same architect behind the Salute.
What to look for
- The boldly rusticated basement at water level — raw, projecting stone blocks that anchor the palace before the colonnades rise above
- The double order of colossal columns and arch-headed windows across the Grand Canal frontage, Longhena's reworking of a Sansovino classical motif
- Ceiling frescoes and oil paintings by Bambini, Pittoni, Crosato, Trevisani, and Girolamo Brusaferro, still decorating the original palace rooms
One of 11 museums in the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia network — a multi-museum pass covers entry.
Ca' Pesaro is one of 38 sights worth the detour in Venice, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Venice pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Venice
- St Mark's BasilicaThe Doge's private chapel turned war-trophy hall — every marble slab and bronze horse was taken from somewhere else.
- Doge's PalaceGovernment offices, a jail, and the Doge's private rooms — all under one Venetian Gothic roof on the lagoon edge.
- Grand CanalVenice's main street is water — a 3.8 km reverse-S where noble families spent fortunes trying to outshine each other in stone and marble.
- Piazza San MarcoNapoleon called it "the drawing room of Europe" — then stripped it of its four horses and shipped them to Paris.
- Rialto BridgePredicted to collapse before it opened, this single-span stone arch has carried Venice's Grand Canal traffic since 1591.
- Bridge of SighsLord Byron named it in the 19th century — condemned men crossing in 1600 took their last look at Venice through stone-barred windows before the cells closed behind them.