Near San Vio, you can find Cini Palace and the gallery of the same name, a treasure, which was opened only to a close circle of historians of art for a long time.
It is located in the heart of the art district in Venice, half a square kilometre, where you can find one of the highest concentration of artworks in the world: from the recently renovated Gallerie dell’Accademia with its art masterpieces from Veneto to the contemporary art offered by the Pinault Foundation in Punta della Dogana, passing through the avant-garde movements of the twentieth century of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and Vedova Foundation in the Magazzini del Sale. Why not include, if we really wanted to be precise, the paintings by Titian in the church of Madonna della Salute?
The palace was once the residence of Count Vittorio Cini, founder of the Cini Foundation. Recently it has been radically restored into a museum, fortunately without disrupting its strong architectural peculiarities. In fact, in the palace we can admire a bold oval stairway and a Neo Rococo oval dining room, both designed in the fifties by Tomaso Buzzi, trusted architect of the Count.
Inside the palace, we can find a huge number of masterpieces, which we rarely get to see in a private collection. The house museum hosts a series of artworks by artists of the Florentine Renaissance such as Giotto, Guariento, Beato Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Piero di Cosimo, Jacopo Pontormo and then some artists of the Renaissance from the Este family with works by Cosmè Tura, Ercole de’ Roberti, Ludovico Mazzolino, Dosso Dossi.
The painting collections are enriched by exquisite examples of ornamental art, which still reflect the original character of the house of one of the most prominent person in the recent history of Italy. Among these ornamental objects, the collection of Venetian porcelain designed by the Cozzi family (1785/1795) and the ivory collections stand out, in addition to this there are chests and period furniture.
A visit full of grandeur, which ends up being a journey into the history of the good and cultured bourgeoisie, which once loved to collect art and to be surrounded by beauty and now, opens its door to the ones who can still enjoy this. There is just one little flaw, which proves the value of what is exhibited: Cini Palace is open only six months a year, because during the remaining six months its artworks travel all over the world to enrich the most prestigious international museums.
PALAZZO CINI GALLERY
Campo San Vio, Dorsoduro 864
Opening Times
24 May – 15 November 2015
Every day from 11.00 to 19.00 (last entrance at 18.15)
Closed on Tuesday
Guided Tours
Phone +39 041 22 01 215
[email protected]
C.S.
