Palazzo Contarini-Sceriman, Venice

Palazzo Contarini Sceriman (Venice)

The Palazzo Contarini-Sceriman, also called Palazzo Seriman ai Gesuiti is a 14th-century palace in the Sestiere of Cannaregio of Venice, Italy. It is located near the church of the Gesuiti.

History[]

The palace was erected first by the in the 14th-century but by the next century belonged to the Contarini family. In 1628 Contarina Contarini, married to Piero Priuli, sold the palace to Alberto Gozzi, a silk merchant. Gozzi would gain access to the aristocracy in 1646, after helping fund the expensive but unsuccessful defense during the Siege of Candia. Gozzi's patronage had also helped erect the Camalodolese convent in San Clemente near Murano, and funded an altar in the church of San Moise.

It was near this palace and the nearby bridge around 1675, that the aristocrat Leonardo Loredan, descendant of a Doge, was found dead in a boat. The unexplained death was the source of many rumors, claiming accidental death, murder by relatives, or murder by the Inquisitors of the Republic.

The palace, had housed for a time the Accademia degli Industriosi, a salon of literature and debate, until it moved to the academy of industrious, before conveyed in in San Canciano. In 1698 another Alberto Gozzi, descendant of the Gozzi above, endowed the property to the four charitably hospitals in the city, the Incurabili, Pietà, Mendicanti, and the Ospedaletto, in addition to the . His wife Adriana Dona was allowed to remain in the palace till 1725. The next year, the palace was then auctioned and purchased by Stefano Sceriman. The Sceriman family was originally an Armenian merchant family from Isfahan. Stefano had been awarded Roman citizenship by Pope Innocent XII, and named Count of Hungary by Emperor Leopold I. The family had gained importance in Venice during the 17th century. In 1850, Giovanni Battista Sceriman willed the Palace to the Institute Manin. In 1884, it became home of the Casa generalizia dell'Istituto delle Ancelle di Gesù Bambino.^[1]

The palace has undergone a number of reconstructions leading to an eclectic combination of various styles, including Venetian Gothic. Another facade on Rio dei Sartori has similar windows. The main entrance stairwell was painted with the Apotheosis of the Sceriman Family by the school of Tiepolo.^[2]

References[]