in Venice, the Royal Palace in St. Mark’s Square regains all its brilliance

In Piazza San Marco, in Venice (Italy), there is a jewel that has long been closed to the public. Inside the Royal Palace, the chandeliers and gilding reveal the splendor of an emperor well known to the French, Napoleon Bonaparte. The Palace is presented as it was in 1808, in its appearance and with its restored furniture. Just before opening to the public, every detail is closely reviewed. “We rework each fold by hand. It’s craftsmanship that no machine could do“, Explain Luigi Dal Mas, upholsterer, working on a curtain.

To bring the 27 rooms of the Royal Palace back to life, 22 years of renovation were necessary. It was necessary to fill the cracks, restore the tapestries and revive the paintings. Gea Storace, painter, worked on each of them to restore the works to their full splendor. “I finish the last finishes with a water-based paint. In a few cases, I also restored the plasterwork, decorative elements such as gilding that were unhooked from the work“, confides the painter. Within these walls, three dynasties succeeded one another: the Bonapartes, the Habsburgs with Sissi the Empress and the Savoys. The Palace was restored thanks to donations from private patrons, which amounted to 7 million euros in total.