Description
Punta della Dogana is the slim triangular blade of Venice that splits the Grand Canal from the Giudecca Canal, right in front of the St Mark's Basin. A tip of Dorsoduro with one of the finest views in the city and, inside the old customs house, a contemporary art center.
The star is the Dogana da Mar, the 17th-century building by Giuseppe Benoni: triangular like the point itself, made of brick, on two floors. In the days of the Republic, goods arriving by sea cleared customs here, and the position, where three stretches of water meet, was no accident.
On top of the tower, don't miss the golden ball: a gilded bronze sphere held up by two Atlases, which is to say the world. Above it, Bernardo Falconi's statue of Fortune turns with the wind and shows its direction. For merchants, a reminder of how quickly luck can change.
Inside is the Punta della Dogana art center, the home of the contemporary art collection of François Pinault, the French fashion magnate, tied to his Palazzo Grassi. The restoration, between 2008 and 2009, is the work of the Japanese architect Tadao Andō.
Andō left the outside as it was, with its exposed brick and its consolidated scars, and stripped the interiors back: long parallel halls, wooden trusses, polished concrete floors. His signature is the exposed concrete walls, which close off a large square hall in the middle of the building.
The project also included two concrete columns in Campo della Salute. After a lot of controversy nothing came of it, but for a prosaic reason: too many cables and pipes ran under the square.
Behind the customs house rises the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute by Baldassare Longhena, built by the Venetians to thank the Virgin for the end of the plague of 1630-1631: its great dome dominates the last stretch of the Grand Canal.
The point also has a role that few people know about. Since 1923 it has been home to the Punta della Salute tide gauge station, the reference for measuring and forecasting high water in the lagoon. Its "zero" has stayed put since the late 19th century, while Venice, in the meantime, has sunk.
The star is the Dogana da Mar, the 17th-century building by Giuseppe Benoni: triangular like the point itself, made of brick, on two floors. In the days of the Republic, goods arriving by sea cleared customs here, and the position, where three stretches of water meet, was no accident.
On top of the tower, don't miss the golden ball: a gilded bronze sphere held up by two Atlases, which is to say the world. Above it, Bernardo Falconi's statue of Fortune turns with the wind and shows its direction. For merchants, a reminder of how quickly luck can change.
Inside is the Punta della Dogana art center, the home of the contemporary art collection of François Pinault, the French fashion magnate, tied to his Palazzo Grassi. The restoration, between 2008 and 2009, is the work of the Japanese architect Tadao Andō.
Andō left the outside as it was, with its exposed brick and its consolidated scars, and stripped the interiors back: long parallel halls, wooden trusses, polished concrete floors. His signature is the exposed concrete walls, which close off a large square hall in the middle of the building.
The project also included two concrete columns in Campo della Salute. After a lot of controversy nothing came of it, but for a prosaic reason: too many cables and pipes ran under the square.
Behind the customs house rises the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute by Baldassare Longhena, built by the Venetians to thank the Virgin for the end of the plague of 1630-1631: its great dome dominates the last stretch of the Grand Canal.
The point also has a role that few people know about. Since 1923 it has been home to the Punta della Salute tide gauge station, the reference for measuring and forecasting high water in the lagoon. Its "zero" has stayed put since the late 19th century, while Venice, in the meantime, has sunk.