Why a Booktrail?
1750, 1900s: The story of a palazzo and the three women who were fascinated by it.
The Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in Venice
What you need to know before your trail
Commissioned in 1750, the Palazzo Venier was planned as a testimony to the power and wealth of a great Venetian family, but the fortunes of the Venier family waned and the project was abandoned with only one storey complete. Empty, unfinished, and in a gradual state of decay, the building was considered an eyesore. Yet in the early 20th century the Unfinished Palazzo’s quality of fairytale abandonment, and its potential for transformation, were to attract and inspire three fascinating women at key moments in their lives: Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse and Peggy Guggenheim
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Travel BookTrail style to Venier dei Leoni Palace
Some have called this a strange building as it only has one storey. The building plans were much more ambitious (3 levels), but apparently the Venier family ran out of money and were only able to complete the first floor.
This is one of the most famous museums of Venice, the modern art collection of Peggy Guggenheim. This famous American billionaire bought the property in 1948, who made it her home until her death in 1979. She was important collector of modern art and protected great artists such as Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock. After her death, the building and the collections became the property of the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation in New York. Peggy’s grave is in the walls of her home.
Luisa turned the palace into a space of fantasy where she hosted decadent parties . She spent a great deal of money on costumes and decorations so that she and her home would become ‘living works of art’Her home was not unlike the Renaissance palaces of the time, and her aspirations were to match.
Doris owned the palace during the hedonistic interwar years, and hosted lavish parties for film stars and royalty during this time
Streetview Maps
A) Venice - The Peggy Guggenheim museum
A) Venice - Church of St. Barnabas
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in Venice
Destination: Venice Author/Guide: Judith Mackrell Departure Time: 1750, 1900s
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