Ca' del Duca
Ca' del Duca is a palace in Venice’s San Marco district, facing the Grand Canal beside Palazzo Falier and Palazzo Malipiero. Three facades turn toward the Grand Canal, Rio del Duca, and Corte del Duca, while the unfinished elevations reveal several layers of construction.
Andrea Cornaro commissioned Bartolomeo Bon to design the palace in 1456, and work began the following year. Political upheaval interrupted the project after Francesco Sforza acquired the property in 1461, leaving only the foundations and a corner of the first floor complete. Istrian stone blocks, faceted ground-floor masonry, and projecting corner units introduced Renaissance and fortified-castle motifs to Venetian architecture. Titian later used the building as a studio in the 1520s, and the Luxembourg Pavilion occupied it during the 2011 Venice Biennale.
Two large columns, water portals, and rusticated stonework remain visible on the side facing Rio del Duca. These fragments show how an abandoned palace shaped later buildings across Venice.
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