When one thinks of Venice, they tend to imagine scenic surroundings, stunning buildings, elegant meals, drinks in stylish bars, museums and churches full of incredible works of art, romantic getaways, and exciting masked revelries. However, like any other place in the world, the city has its dark side too. Ghost tours are incredibly plentiful here for a reason and if you have found a villa in Venice and are interested in the more factual macabre side of this beautiful place then there is a relatively recent addition to her selection of fascinating museums that you must see: Venice Secrets.
Venice Secrets, like many of the city's museums, is located inside a historic Venetian palace, the Ca' Zaguri. Located in the Campo San Maurizio, just a five minute walk from the famous Piazza San Marco and some of the city's other, better-known museums including the Guggenheim and the Accademia, Ca' Zaguri is, itself, steeped in history. It has been home to some of Venice's most prestigious families throughout history including the Strazarolus family with their ties to the clergy. the Pasqualini family of wealthy silk merchants, and the Priuli family who were related to the Doge Andrea Vendramin and it hosted incredible parties attended by nobles and princes. Today, the palace remains named for the Zaguri family who lived there between the 16th and 19th centuries, with the last heir to have died there being Pietro II Marco Zaguri in 1810. The building was then acquired by the Congregazione di Vicenza and aristocrat Fin before the Comune di Venezia acquired the first and second floor between 1905 and 1909 and established an all-female school there that eventually closed in the 1980s. In 2007, it was purchased by an investment fund and an exhibition centre was established inside the palace. One of the permanent exhibitions currently is that of Secret Venice, which uncovers some of the darker parts of the city's history inside one of the most beautiful examples of Venetian Gothic architecture around.
A curation of fascinating, macabre, and secret documents and artifacts cobbled together from other museums and private collections, Venice Secrets displays instruments of death and torture and documents relating to their use and to the legal actions that led to their use. It is a museum that exposes the severe manner in which justice was applied in Venice of the past. Terrible and frightening stories are told inside the contrastingly lovely interiors of this five-storey palace. Divided into four sections, the museum explains how confessions were extracted and penalties were decided, how punishments from being burned alive to being drowned to dying on the gallows were enacted, and how the bodies of those condemned to death were then used for the study of anatomy by medical students in Padua and Venice. These sections include: Justice and Torture; Prison and Prisoners; The Capital Executions Rite; and Inquisition and Holy Office.
Fascinating and terrifying in equal measure, if you are intrigued by the darker and less-talked-about aspects of history and you have found a luxury villa in Veneto, then you should definitely set aside some time to come and visit this incredible museum. In addition to the museum itself being truly captivating and highly informative, as well as quite creepy and entertaining, the chance to wander the unbelievably beautiful and carefully restored Ca' Zaguri is not to be missed as it is quite the gem! So, if you have a strong stomach and a bit of a penchant for the more horrible side of history, then this is one of the museums in Italy that you can't afford to miss.
Fascinating and terrifying in equal measure, if you are intrigued by the darker and less-talked-about aspects of history and you have found a luxury villa in Veneto, then you should definitely set aside some time to come and visit this incredible museum. In addition to the museum itself being truly captivating and highly informative, as well as quite creepy and entertaining, the chance to wander the unbelievably beautiful and carefully restored Ca' Zaguri is not to be missed as it is quite the gem! So, if you have a strong stomach and a bit of a penchant for the more horrible side of history, then this is one of the museums in Italy that you can't afford to miss.