Ca' Rezzonico - Museo del Settecento Veneziano

Lonely Planet review

This superb 17th- to 18th-century mansion, facing the Grand Canal, is the Museum of the 18th Century. Designed by Longhena and completed in the 1750s by Massari, it was home to several notables over the years, including the poet Robert Browning, who died here. The grand residence holds a collection of 18th-century art and furniture, and provides a rare insight into how the Venetian nobility lived towards the end of La Serenissima.

A staircase by the ground floor cafeteria leads up to the so-called Browning Mezzanine, home to the Mestrovich collection, including a few pieces by Tintoretto and Francesco Guardi.

The main, broad staircase by Massari ascends from the ground floor to the piano nobile . This leads to the Salone da Ballo (Ballroom), a splendid hall dripping with frescoes and richly furnished with 18th-century couches, tables and ebony statues. The second floor is dominated by a fresco cycle by Giandomenico Tiepolo, moved here from a mainland villa at Zaniago (a village near Mirano). On both floors you will see works by Pietro Longhi, Francesco Guardi, Rosalba Carriera, Canaletto and others.

On the third floor are the contents of an 18th-century pharmacy that had existed in Campo San Stin until 1908. Beyond is the Egidio Martini art bequest, with an eclectic collection of Venetian paintings from the 16th to the 20th century.