Ca' Foscari Palace

Ca’ Foscari, from a doge’s palace to the University of Venice

Set on the great curve of the Grand Canal known as the Volta del Canal, Ca’ Foscari is one of the great Gothic palaces of Venice. Its monumental facade, punctuated by two large superimposed multi-lobed windows, overlooks a particularly spectacular spot on the canal.

Still the historic seat of Ca’ Foscari University, the palace remains a living building, used for lectures, meetings, and events. Occasional visits and openings also allow discovery of the Aula Baratto and Scarpa’s interventions, in the heart of a university district that extends towards San Pantalon and Campo Santa Margherita.

The Palace of a Doge

The site was previously occupied by the Casa delle Due Torri, a Byzantine-style palace bought by the Republic in 1429 and used mainly to host high-ranking figures. Put up for auction, it was acquired in 1452 by Doge Francesco Foscari, who had it demolished to build a much more imposing family residence. Begun in 1453 and traditionally attributed to Bartolomeo Bon, the reconstruction gave rise to one of the major examples of late Venetian Gothic.

Foscari did not enjoy it for long: after more than thirty years of dogate, marked by Venice’s expansion on the mainland but also by the judicial dramas of his son Jacopo, he was forced to abdicate in October 1457 and died a few days later. His story later inspired Byron and then Verdi’s opera I due Foscari.

Carlo Scarpa at Ca’ Foscari

The palace has been restored several times to adapt it to its university functions. Carlo Scarpa first intervened in 1935, then in the 1950s took up the layout of the former Aula Magna, now Aula Mario Baratto. He integrated furniture, woodwork, and modern devices around the large Gothic window opening onto an exceptional view of the Grand Canal.

Sources and further information

Ca’ Foscari University — history of the palace ; Ca’ Foscari University — Carlo Scarpa ; Treccani — Francesco Foscari.