Introduction
As you know, my trading interests make me change the places of location too often. Of course, living in the 1550’s it is easier to travel and I even cannot imagine how people started trading in the world is restricted in their opportunities. Searching for new and better places for trading I appeared in Venice. I suppose you know that our city, Antwerp, has become the center of sugar trading in Europe and Venice merchants are interested in our delivery.
Being offered to go to Venice with the business visit, I could not refuse this chance to see the place I have been always dreaming of. I want to say that I heard much about architecture and the environment of this place and it was a great chance for me to go there. Visiting different places and offices for negotiations I had to get used to the fact that the roads are and cars are unusual for Venice. People should use boats (Italian: Vaporetto) and this added something mysterious to the architecture of the places I had to visit.
Venice architecture
Dwelling upon the city in general, I should say that the place I had to visit more, the Grand Canal of Venice, might be considered as the one which contains the greater number of palaces. Almost every building belongs to a respected family in the city that makes it the most fashionable and prestigious region in the whole of Venice. Coming through the palaces, I was surprised by the emptiness of the first floors of the buildings, however, I was told that water and dampness were the reasons for this.
The architecture in the city looked like ours. The buildings were created in the same Gothic style as the buildings in my Antwerp, however, there was something different. As I got to know later, most of the buildings were presented in the Venetian Gothic style. Looking at most of the buildings, I noticed the same feature, most of them were designed with many windows. The impression was that the architectures wanted to make the buildings with more light and grace.
Referring to the specifics of the city, it seemed that the builders used as much place as it was necessary to avoid heavy constructions. It is obvious that is located on the water, the weight and the size of the place should not be more than necessary to support the building. Some of the buildings were created in another, more ancient style, while there are two particular buildings Doge’s Palace and Palazzo Dario which are the icons of the floral Venetian Gothic style.
Palazzo Dario
People in the city were friendly and some of them told me the story of some places. Being a woman I was not allowed to visit the Doge’s Palace, however, I wanted to. I was interested in the Palazzo Dario where I was invited. The place impressed me with its architecture and with its eccentric beauty, as I cannot find another word for describing my impressions from visiting it. The multicolored marble façade is magnificent.
The large windows which seemed to hold the building and served as for this purpose perfectly fit the design. It was rather strange to watch at the Palazzo Dario with arch-like windows while the surrounding buildings different greatly. The Palazzo Dario is distinguished by the decorations on the façade of the building, the holes, and the presentation of which creates the impression of a holiday. When I saw this building for the first time, I could compare it with the “house of cards” (Buckley 139) as it was impressed with the brightness and the unusual décor. The encrustation showed that wealthy people lived there.
The three windows in a row at each of the upper three floors of the four-stored building showed the desire for more light. After my visit, I was told that the palace seemed to be rather mysterious as two previous owners of the palace died. Still, this fact did not spoil my relation to the architecture of the palace. Moreover, I became more interested in this building as I believe that this place is going to possess a rich history in the future.
Conclusion
I want to say that I would like to live in such a palace as being rather compact due to the peculiarities of the place it is located at, the beauty of the architecture does not live anyone careless. The unusual location of the windows and the façade decorated with the encrustation are the man signs of the luxury and individuality of the place. Even though the Palazzo Dario is created as a unique building, it is similar in style and presentation to other buildings of the city. Being located on the Grand Canal of Venice, the builders had to follow some particular rules. This is one of the main signs which distinguish the buildings in Venice from the buildings in my native city Antwerp.
Works Cited
Buckley, Jonathan. Venice directions. New York: Rough Guides, 2004. Print.