Palazzo Ca' Vendramin Calergi is one of the finest Renaissance palaces on the Grand Canal. Begun in the late 15th century by the architect Mauro Codussi, the building stands out for its graceful arcaded façade, its towering twin-light windows and the elegant proportions that became a model for later Venetian architecture.
Its first owner was Doge Leonardo Loredan, followed by Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who sold the palace to the nobleman Vittore Calergi – whose name the palazzo still bears today. The Vendramin family then held it for a full century, and in 1946 the city of Venice acquired the building as a civic landmark.
For music lovers, the palace is a pilgrimage site: the composer Richard Wagner spent the final years of his life here and died in one of its rooms in 1883. Since 1995 the ground floor has housed the Museo Wagner, a small but absorbing collection of scores, letters and personal items curated by the Association Richard Wagner of Venice.
Even without a museum visit, the palazzo is worth lingering in front of. Look for it from a vaporetto on the San Marcuola–Rialto stretch of the Grand Canal – the symmetrical façade of white Istrian stone, reflected in the water at sunset, is a postcard view of Venice at its most serene.
