Ca' d'Oro (Galleria Giorgio Franchetti)

Description:

• The 15th-century Ca' d'Oro is one of the best preserved and most impressive of the hundreds of palazzi lining the Grand Canal. After the Palazzo Ducale, it's the city's finest example of Venetian Gothic architecture. Its name, the Golden Palace, refers to the gilt-covered facade that faded long ago and is now pink and white. Inside, the beam ceilings and ornate trappings provide a backdrop for the collection of former owner Baron Franchetti, who bequeathed his home and artworks to the city during World War I.

  The core collection, expanded over the years, now includes sculptures, furniture, 16th-century Flemish tapestries, an impressive collection of bronzes (12th-16th c.), and a gallery whose most important canvases are Andrea Mantegna's San Sebastiano and Titian's Venus at the Mirror, as well as lesser paintings by Tintoretto, Carpaccio, Van Dyck, Giorgione, and Jan Steen. For a delightful break, step out onto the palazzo's loggia, overlooking the Grand Canal, for a view up and down the waterway and across to the Pescheria, a timeless vignette of an unchanged city. Off the loggia is a small but worthy ceramics collection, open 10am to noon.

• © Frommer's 2013

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Highly Recommended 2010