Dario Palace

 palazzi - index

General remarks:

Description:

Palazzo Dario is one of the most famous early renaissance palaces in Venice and was erected at the end of the 15th century by Giovanni Dario, secretary of the Venetian senate. The relatively small building, bordering the Grand Canal and the Rio delle Torreselle, is a remodeled gothic construction. Facade composition and details are still of gothic taste (see Palazzo Priuli a San Severo). Since Vincenzo Barbaro had married Marta Dario, the Barbaro primogeniture inherited the palace after Dario's death, and kept it until the 19th century.
The palace consists of a water floor with central portal and round-arch windows alternating with oculi, two piani nobili of virtually equal dimensions, and a terminating floor. Although the façade, entirely encased with marble, at first glance resembles works of Pietro Lombardo, recent scholarship rejects this attribution. For a much larger example of the same period, see the near Palazzo Contarini Polignac. Among other details, John Ruskin depicted the round incrustations in the right wing. A neo-gothic balcony in the second floor was added in the 19th century. Re-used gothic arches of fifth order can be found on the rear façade on the Campiello Barbaro.
In the 19th century, the owners of all "excentric" palaces such as the Ca'd'Oro and Palazzo Dario, changed frequently. In 2006 it became property of a unknown US family.
The high chimneys, among the few conserved examples in Venice, are of special note.

Additional pictures:

first piano nobile stone decoration detail

Literature

External resources

© 1999-2007 J.-Ch. Rößler
Venice architecture - palaces