Ca' Rezzonico - The Rezzonico Family

The Rezzonico Family

The unfinished palazzo had been bought from the impoverished Bon family by Giambattista Rezzonico. His family, like their friends at the Palazzo Labia, had bought their noble Venetian status in the mid-17th century following a war with Turkey, when the Venetian state coffers were depleted. Hence the mere rich, as opposed to the wealthy aristocracy, could make a large donation to the Serene Republic, thus purchasing patents of nobility and having their names inscribed in the Libro d'Oro (the "Golden Book").

A Canaletto painting of the early 18th century shows only the ground floor and first piano nobile completed, and a temporary roof protecting the structure from the elements. The completion of the palazzo symbolised the completion of the Rezzonico's upward social journey. The pinnacle of the Rezzonico's power and the Palazzo's grandeur came in 1758, when Carlo, son of Giambattista Rezzonico, was elected Pope as Clement XIII, the same year Ludovico Rezzonico married Faustina Savorgnan in Venice. Ludovico later became the procurator of St. Mark's Basilica. By 1810 the family had died out, leaving only their palazzo to preserve the Rezzonico name.