Palazzo Loredan dell'Ambasciatore

Palazzo Loredan dell'Ambasciatore rises straight from the Grand Canal in Dorsoduro, one of the six historic sestieri of Venice. You can pick out its pointed arches and ornately carved windows from any boat passing on the water. The Loredan family, among Venice's most prominent noble houses, once owned it.

Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg moved in after helping to defeat the Turks in 1716, bringing twenty-five people and four gondoliers. He became known for elaborate dinner parties and built up an impressive art collection inside the palace. In 1752 Francesco Loredan, a future Doge, offered the palazzo to the Holy Roman Empire's ambassador in exchange for twenty-nine years of restorations. Count Philip Joseph Orsini-Rosenberg became the first imperial ambassador to live there. He soon married Giustiniana Wynne, a close friend of Giacomo Casanova, and the couple spent their early married years under this roof.

The Gaggia family owns the palazzo, and its rooms host carnival balls and private functions. Francesco Guardi painted it in one of his vedute: washing on the balconies, diplomats at the windows, gondoliers crossing below. Above the entrance sits the imperial crest, and a gentleman in a blue coat stands at the door with a gold sceptre.