Palazzo Michiel delle Colonne: Façade

The Zen family bought the Venetian-Byzantine palace around the end of the 17th century and commissioned Antonio Gaspari for its renovation. The architect superimposed the old structure with new ornamentation and carved tympanums to decorate the windows. The only traces of the previous building are to be found in the internal courtyard.

The name of the palace comes from the name of a later owner (the Michiel family) and the architectural structure on the ground floor, with an extended arcade running along the whole fa�ade, made up of tall columns, and linked to each other by round arches.

The picture shows the fa�ade on the Canal Grande characterized by the disproportionate columns of the ground floor.