Palazzo Mocenigo

A patrician palazzo on the San Stae canal preserves the material culture of old Venice. Palazzo Mocenigo presents historic textiles, embroidery and lace on mannequins among period furnishings, alongside a dedicated history of perfume.

Why it matters

The palace has Gothic origins and was rebuilt to its present appearance in the early seventeenth century. It belonged to the San Stae branch of a family that produced seven doges of the Republic. The last descendant, Alvise Nicolò, bequeathed the building to the city in 1945 as a gallery to complement the Correr Museum; it opened to the public in 1985. It became the Study Centre for the History of Textiles, Costume and Perfume, bringing together fabrics, garments and a specialist library, with collections largely from the Correr, Guggenheim, Cini and Palazzo Grassi holdings.

What to notice

Pier Luigi Pizzi redesigned the museum's exhibition layout in 2013, expanding it across twenty rooms on the first piano nobile. Mannequins display antique garments and accessories in patterned fabrics, embroidery and lace, among furnishings and paintings evoking Venetian domestic life of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Ceiling frescoes painted in 1787 for a family wedding are by Jacopo Guarana, Giambattista Canal and Giovanni Scajaro. The ground floor includes a Multimedia Room, the White Room for temporary events and a Perfume Laboratory with more than 200 essences, developed with Mavive Parfums.

Context and history

Perfume was part of Venice's economy from the Renaissance trade with the East. The 2013 renewal incorporated six rooms devoted to perfume into the museum's display, tracing the city's role in the history of cosmetic and commercial practices through multimedia and sensory installations. The palace's history runs from the fifteenth-century division that created the San Stae Mocenigo line, through its Serlian windows and the 1945 bequest, to the museum's 1985 opening. The Study Centre also maintains a photographic archive and an online catalogue for textile and fashion research.