Palazzo Grassi

On the Grand Canal's final stretch stands the last noble residence built there before the Republic fell. Palazzo Grassi combines a classical eighteenth-century exterior with Tadao Ando's concrete-and-steel interventions and changing exhibitions from the Pinault Collection.

Why it matters

The Grassi family commissioned Giorgio Massari to build the palace between 1748 and 1772. It became the last noble residence constructed on the Grand Canal before the Republic fell. Massari drew on Palladian and Sansovinian architecture, producing a four-storey block with a regular canal façade and a more freely composed side toward Campo San Samuele. A succession of owners included merchants, nobles and industrialists; Fiat preceded François Pinault's acquisition of the building for a museum.

What to notice

The entrance hall on Campo San Samuele retains two restored eighteenth-century frescoes by Carlo Innocenzo Carloni and a 1950s inlaid marble floor. Michelangelo Morlaiter and Francesco Zanchi's frescoed figures decorate the staircase walls; above them, Giambattista Canal's 1780 allegory of Justice crowned by Glory was moved from the former double-height ballroom. Baron Simeone de Sina's nineteenth-century ceilings survive upstairs, including Christian Griepenkerl's Neptune and Amphitrite. Tadao Ando's 2005 intervention preserved the historic envelope while introducing exposed concrete and flexible exhibition infrastructure, placing works from the Pinault Collection in dialogue with the neoclassical rooms.

Context and history

Baron Simeone de Sina funded nineteenth-century transformations; the Marinotti family established the International Center of Arts and Costumes and altered the structure. Under Fiat, Gae Aulenti and Venetian architect Antonio Foscari reconverted the interiors. In 2005 François Pinault selected the building for his collection's first museum. Ando's restoration lasted about four months; the opening exhibition, “Where Are We Going?”, began in April 2006. Palazzo Grassi now operates alongside Punta della Dogana as one of the Pinault Collection's two Venetian venues, presenting temporary exhibitions rather than a fixed display.