Ca' Rezzonico - Interior

Interior

In 1758, the newly completed palazzo was enhanced further, by the addition of frescos to the ceilings of the state rooms on the piano nobile overlooking the rio di San Barnaba. The artists selected for this task were Jacopo Guarana, Gaspare Diziani and most importantly Giambattista Tiepolo. These frescos remaining today are among the finest preserved in Venice.

The Palazzo's principal rooms are arranged on the 1st piano nobile; on all floors the famous canal facade is only three rooms wide. On each side of the building a suite of four state rooms lead from the grand canal facade to the largest room in the palazzo - the magnificent ballroom at the rear. This room, created by Massari, is of double height. The walls are decorated in trompe l'oeil by the Lombard Pietro Visconti. The images are of an architectural nature, which create the feeling that the large room is even more massive than it is. The ceiling, painted by Giovanni Battista Crosato, depicts Apollo riding his carriage between Europe, Asia, Africa and The Americas. The Ballroom and following state rooms are reached by the vast staircase of honour, its marble balustrades decorated with statuary by Giusto Le Court. Le Court the leading sculptor in Venice in the late 17th century worked closely on many projects with the first architect Longhena, which suggests the regal importance the ballroom and staircase give to the palazzo was one of the intentions of the patrician Bon family rather than the 'arriviste' Rezzonicos.

The piano nobile also contains such rooms as the Chapel, and the beautifully frescoed Nuptial Allegory Room decorated to celebrate the 1758 marriage of Ludovico Rezzonico. The ceiling has a trompe l'oeil depiction of the groom and his bride ferried by Apollo's chariot. The frescoes in the adjoining room continues the celebration of the happy union. This room and the Palazzo Labia ballroom house major ceiling frescoes "in situ" by Tiepolo in Venice.

At the centre of the rectangular palazzo is a small courtyard decorated with sculptures and a small fountain; the court is overlooked by the colonnaded balcony of the piano nobile. The ground floor resembles a mere expansion of the vaulted portego - a hall which links the canal entrance to the land entrance at the rear.