Royal Palace of Venice

The use and successive modifications of the Royal Palace began in 1807 and ended in 1919 when King Victor Emmanuel III ceded the building to the Italian State.

The Procuratie Vecchie (Old Procuracies), built between 1514 and 1538 on the north side of the square, were not used as residences but were rented out at a good price to support the city's administration.

[2] To address this issue, an old pilgrims' hospice on the south side of the square was converted into residences for the procurators, six in total, which were occupied based on seniority in the position.

However, procurators often declined to reside in these spaces, citing their poor condition, dampness, and lack of light, preferring to live in their city palaces and rent out the procuracies to third parties.

After his dismissal in 1597, Francesco di Bernardin Smeraldi and Mario della Carità continued the works, and in 1640, Baldassare Longhena was appointed as the architect and completed the project around 1660.

However, the New Procuracies were designated to house the headquarters of the Adriatic Prefecture, and after the creation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1805, they served as the residence for Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais and his family during their visits to the city.

To construct these last two elements, the architect Giovanni Antonio Antolini proposed demolishing the Church of San Geminiano and building an entrance portico with the staircase.

Despite the scale of the project, its architecture was much more conservative, following the design of the New Procuracies, although an attic with a frieze representing Napoleon on the throne and fourteen statues of Roman emperors was added.

[4] The internal decoration of the spaces, following the exuberance of the Empire style close to Percier and Fontaine, was entrusted to Giuseppe Borsato, assisted by Giovanni Carlo Bevilacqua and Giambattista Canal.

[6][7] With the fall of Napoleon, the Royal Palace was converted into the residence in the city of the Lombard-Venetian king, that is, the Emperor of Austria, Francis I was able to visit it as early as 1815.

[27] Fortunately, the private rooms facing the lagoon were converted into offices, which, although it deteriorated them, also prevented their transformation into neutral museum spaces.