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Commissioned in 1750, the Palazzo Venier was planned as a testimony to the power and wealth of a great Venetian family, but the fortunes of the Venier family waned and the project was abandoned with only one storey complete. Empty, unfinished, and in a gradual state of decay, the building was considered an eyesore. Yet in the early 20th century the Unfinished Palazzo's quality of fairytale abandonment, and its potential for transformation, were to attract and inspire three fascinating women at key moments in their lives: Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse and Peggy Guggenheim. Each chose the Palazzo Venier as the stage on which to build her own world of art and imagination, surrounded by an amazing supporting cast, from d'Annunzio and Nijinsky, via Noel Coward and Cecil Beaton, to Yoko Ono.… (more)
User reviews
Quite an interesting trio. Casati came from an extremely wealthy family, married a marquess from whom she later separated,
Doris Castlerosse came from a middle-class family, but was determined to become rich and social. Her path to that was to become a "professional mistress", though she later made a rather unfortunate marriage. She had quite the variety of lovers, including Cecil Beaton (!!!) and Winston Churchill. But it was a woman who bought the palazzo for her. She lived there only briefly, however, leaving Venice with the onset of World War II, and never returning.
Peggy Guggenheim had a difficult childhood, not helped by her father's death in the sinking of the Titanic, and, like the others, had lousy taste in men. She became, of course, a great patron of modern art, and the palazzo is now the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Her ashes (and her dogs) are buried in the garden.