Restored in 1992 with partial funding from Mr. and Mrs. Julio Mario Santo Domingo, the Ca’ Zenobio Institute, the Getty Grant Program, and the World Monuments Fund.

One of the largest and most elegant palaces erected in Venice in the eighteenth century, Ca’ Zenobio was designed and built in a grand Baroque style by Antonio Gaspari, a pupil of Baldassare Longhena. Many of the façade’s details, including the large coat of arms of the Zenobio family, have since been removed and relocated to the garden.

In 1767 the architect Tommaso Temanza built a charming pavilion, or casino, at the southern end of the palace’s famous gardens. This garden house was used as a library and study and boasts a dignified Palladian-inspired neoclassical façade; cheerfully colored floral stuccoes decorate the interior.

In the mid-nineteenth century, with the passing of the final heir of the Zenobio family line, the property was acquired by the Armenian Community of Venice. Today the palazzo is known as Ca’ Zenobio degli Armeni.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Tommaso Temanza (1705–1789)
Garden Casino at Ca’ Zenobio
Brick, stucco, and Istrian stone

Howard, Deborah. The Architectural History of Venice. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002.