Venice Cavagnis Palace

Palazzo Cavagnis was founded in the early 18th century, when Antonio Francesco Cavagnis, who belonged to a family of artisans originally from Bergamo and active in the embroidery and lace trade in Venice, decided to rebuild the building, entrusting the project to architect Domenico Rossi.

Over time, Venetian artists decorated the rooms on the main floor with exquisite frescoes. Prominent among them is the ceiling with The Myth of Bacchus and Ariadne, painted in 1810 by Carlo Bevilacqua, still one of the palace’s most striking features.

The building’s history is also intertwined with that of the city: during World War I, in 1918, a bomb hit the surrounding area, damaging part of the frescoes. Today Palazzo Cavagnis is recognized as a national monument, a testament to its historical and artistic value.

In 1868 the building was purchased by the Waldensian Church, which transformed it into a place of welcome, worship and social engagement. Here was born an evangelical school dedicated to the city’s most fragile children, which for more than two decades represented an important point of reference for the Venetian community.

During complex periods marked by religious tensions, wars and epidemics, Palazzo Cavagnis remained an open and living place, linked to an idea of hospitality and solidarity.

Even today this vocation continues. The frescoed halls, the great hall on the main floor and the common spaces host cultural meetings, moments of sharing and the guests of the Waldensian Guesthouse, giving new life to a historic building that continues to create relationships between people, city and memory.