The elegant red building separated by a small canal is the Museo Querini Stampalia. The Querini family was one of the oldest and wealthiest in Venice, and often it was expected that someone from a founding family would become doge, that is, the highest position in the city. However, back in 1310, a famous plot to overthrow the standing ruling class was thwarted by the doge’s soldiers, and among the key plotters was the young Marco Querini; he was immediately executed, and the family was forever excluded from running for the dogeship. A relative of his, however, managed to escape and ended up on the island of Stampalia in Greece, hence the name Querini-Stampalia. Much time passed, and in the 18th century the last family heir Giovanni Querini Stampalia, a scientist, man of letters, and silk merchant left this building to Venice, specifying in his will that it should be used ‘especially for evening assemblies of scholars and scientists’. Today, the first floor is one of the most loved public libraries by students, exactly as he would have wished.
