Ca' Rezzonico — Museo del Settecento Veneziano

Ca' Rezzonico, home to the Museo del Settecento Veneziano, is a palazzo on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro district of Venice, Veneto, Italy. Construction began in 1649 to designs by Baldassare Longhena for the Bon family, but ran out of money and was left unfinished. The Rezzonico family, wealthy merchants from Lombardy who bought their noble status in 1687, acquired the site in 1751 and commissioned Giorgio Massari to complete it; Carlo Rezzonico became Pope Clement XIII in 1758. The palazzo then passed through several owners, including the poet Robert Browning's son, Pen Browning, who lived here until 1906, and was purchased by the city in 1935 to serve as a museum of 18th-century Venice, opening in 1936. The rooms preserve the sumptuous interiors of that period. The ballroom has an ornate carved and gilded ceiling with a trompe-l'oeil ceiling fresco by Giambattista Crosato, chandeliers in Murano glass and massive ebony and boxwood furniture by Andrea Brustolon. The Tiepolo Room holds Giambattista Tiepolo's ceiling fresco Allegory of Merit between Nobility and Virtue, while the upper floor contains the ceiling from the Palazzo Barbarigo and frescoes by Giandomenico Tiepolo taken from Villa Zianigo, including the Pulcinella scenes. Paintings by Pietro Longhi and Francesco Guardi show the life and festivals of the time, and the reconstructed pharmacy displays 18th-century jars and instruments. The arrangement is immersive, presenting furnished period rooms rather than a chronological display of objects. The palazzo was restored in the late 20th century and again in recent years, with the facade cleaned and the rooms and picture galleries refreshed, and the garden opens to visitors in season. It is managed by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.