A new lighting system for the façade
Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca’ d’Oro, Venice

The Ca’ d’Oro, with its sumptuously carved façade, has been described as a “poem in marble”. It was built in the early 15th century by the wealthy Contarini family of Venice. A gem of Late Gothic architecture, the Ca’ d’Oro is one of Venice’s most widely admired palazzi, famed for its iconic façade and spectacular decor. In 1431, the French painter Jean Charlier added details to the colour marble using vivid ultramarine blue, black, white, and gold paint. The gold paint gave the palazzo its name of the “golden house” that, like a jewel, reflected the glistening water of the Grand Canal. To emphasize the ornate marble work and evoke the former gilding, the Direzione regionale Musei Veneto and Venetian Heritage have led the project to install a sustainable and low-environmental impact night-time lighting system.
The lighting project for the façade of the Ca’ d’Oro is the result of a unique historical-architectural lighting study, making it the first of its kind for a palazzo overlooking the Grand Canal. Through the clever use of interior lighting, it has been possible to create an illumination that enhances the elegant architectural lines and the refined combinations of colored stones of the façade, as well as the rhythmic tracery of the fretwork. However, the main contribution to the illumination of the façade came from installing light sources outside the building, placed on four special pali da casada positioned in front of the Ca’ d’Oro. This solution has made it possible to create a scenario that recalls the original gold and gilding of the palace, reproducing on the façade that state of opulence so often described and reproduced in the works of contemporary artists and later by the Romantics of the 19th century.
The lighting system, financed by Venetian Heritage with Maison Pomellato, has been conceived by Arch. Alberto Pasetti Bombardella and coordinated by Arch. Giulia Passante. Erco, a leading international specialist in sustainable architectural lighting with LED technology, has supplied the outdoor luminaries. The façade lighting is part of a larger project for the total renovation of the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca’ d’Oro supported by Venetian Heritage in collaboration with the Giulio and Giovanna Sacchetti Foundation.