Ca' Foscari - The House With The Two Towers

The House With The Two Towers

The current building is not the original one: the previous building on the site was a Byzantine palace known as the "House with the two Towers", which was bought by the Republic of Venice in 1429 from Bernardo Giustinian, in order to make it the residence of the vice-captain of the Republic, Gianfrancesco Gonzaga; at that time the palace looked very different from now: it was made of 2 towers and a lower central block. As Gonzaga perhaps never lived there, the palace was used to give hospitality to illustrious guests of the Republic, including kings and diplomats. In 1439 the House of the two Towers was given to another captain, Francesco Sforza. The palace was always considered as the headquarters of the Venetian Republic, also because it could be easily approached by the Bucintoro. In 1447 Francesco Sforza betrayed the Republic and he was deprived of the residence.

In 1453 the Republic of Venice regained possession of the palace and sold it by auction to the Doge of the time, Francesco Foscari; he had the palace destroyed and rebuilt in late Venetian gothic style; the building was chosen by the doge for its position on the Grand Canal. Foscari immediately set about rebuilding the palace in a manner befitting his station: he moved the site of the new palace forward on to the bank of the Grand Canal. Buying and rebuilding the palace for himself meant for the doge affirming his political and military role: he actually represented the continuity of the military successes of that period, lasted 30 years, and was the promoter of the Venetian expansion on mainland. The huge new palace, can hardly have been finished when Foscari was disgraced in 1457 and retired to his new home to end his days.