Palazzo Canossa

The Palazzo Canossa in Verona is the work of Italian Renaissance architect Michele Sanmicheli. The palace stands at the center of the northern Italian city of Verona and was designed around the year 1527.

Architectural History

The Canossa family is one of the oldest and most important families of Italy. In 1527 Michele Sammicheli began with the designs and construction of the Palazzo Canossa; Palazzo Bevilacqua and Palazzo Pompei followed a few years later. It is therefore not surprising that all three buildings have structural similarities.

Architecture

The ground floor of the palace with its rusticated stone works - in spite of the triumphal arch scheme used - rather thick and remembers from the outside more like a trade or Geschäftsskontor. The representative floor ( piano nobile ) with its seven windows, which are separated from each other by double pilasters, on the other hand a harmonious serenity and tranquility exudes. The windows on both floors have separate skylights. A balcony - like the Palazzo Bevilacqua - there is not; for the base of the roof is hidden behind a seven -piece sill with head-high allegorical figures that make a significant contribution to the representative character of the structure. The courtyard of the palace opens onto its back to the river Adige.

Function

The palace served as the town residence of the Canossa family, which also antique statues and paintings of famous Italian painter ( including Paolo Veronese) housed. The ceiling fresco Gian Battista Tiepolo in the Great Hall with the theme of the Apotheosis of Hercules was destroyed in the Second World War. The palace is privately owned and can not be visited.

Others

From 20 October to 14 December 1822 Verona Congress was held here, which dealt with questions of realignment of Europe in the Napoleonic period and after the declaration of independence of Greece from the Ottoman Empire.