Looking ahead, you’ll see Ca’ Vendramin, Ca’ being short for Casa, House. Today this palace is home to Venice’s Casino; built at the beginning of the 16th century. It changed owners many times, and at one stage was sealed off completely due to gruesome disputes between noblemen, not a rare occurrence in Venice. It was in this palace, on the 13th of February 1883, that Richard Wagner died in the company of his gondolier.
Then you’ll see the Fondaco dei Turchi, built in the 1400’s, which in 1621 became the workplace and residence allotted to merchants of the Ottoman empire. Fondaco is originally an Arabic word in fact, meaning warehouse. The Venetian state, as always kept a vigilant eye, and appointed a fulltime guardian with the only keys to the building, who made sure no women or children entered the Fondaco, to distract the workers from their work. The building was abandoned by the Turks in awful conditions, and after heavy restructuring, it is now home to the city’s National History Museum.
