Palazzo Soranzo Historical Timeline

Origins

The older of Palazzo Soranzo's two wings was built in the mid-14th century by the De Bugni, a family of merchants from Cremona who had bought their way into Venetian citizenship. The larger wing, recognizable today by the eight arched windows lighting its piano nobile, followed in the 15th century, extending the complex along the edge of the campo.

Turning points

In 1401, the De Bugni married their daughter Bianca to Vittorio Soranzo, a descendant of the Doge Giovanni Soranzo. The marriage brought the palace into the Soranzo family, whose name it has carried ever since.

The canal that once ran along the building's front, the Rio Sant'Antonio, was filled in and paved over in 1761, turning what had been a waterside approach into part of the open square visitors cross today.

Influential people

The Soranzo name traces back to Giovanni Soranzo, Doge of Venice from 1312 to 1328. Before his election, he commanded the Venetian fleet that defeated the Genoese at Kaffa, a Black Sea trading post in the Crimea -- a victory that shaped his reputation well before he took the city's highest office.

Local tradition also places the poet Dante Alighieri at the palace, decades earlier, during his final diplomatic mission to Venice in the summer of 1321. Sent by Guido Novello da Polenta, the lord of Ravenna, to negotiate with the Doge, Dante is said to have stayed here; he fell ill on the journey home and died in Ravenna that September.

Cultural evolution

As Venice's noble families lost wealth and status after the fall of the Republic in 1797, palaces like this one were gradually subdivided into smaller apartments and offices across the city. Palazzo Soranzo followed the same path -- for a period in the late 20th century, part of the building even housed a university seminar and library, before returning to residential and office use.

Present-day significance

The palace remains privately owned today, subdivided into apartments and offices. Descendants of the family have kept one quiet trace of its history alive: local guides note that the building's doorbell plate carries an engraved ducal horn, the ceremonial cap worn by Venice's doges -- a small nod to Giovanni Soranzo's place in the family's past.