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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13870 ***
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+A SUMMARY HISTORY
+
+OF THE
+
+PALAZZO DANDOLO
+
+NOW
+
+ROYAL HOTEL DANIELI
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+VENICE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1896
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: VIEW OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE TWO PALACES WHICH FORM THE
+ROYAL HOTEL DANIELI]
+
+
+In 1805 the second floor of the Palazzo Dandolo, situated in the
+Calle delle Razze, and fronting on to the Riva degli Schiavoni, was
+bought by a certain Dal Niel, sur-named Danieli, from a member of the
+families of Michiel and Bernardo, into whose hands it had come, partly
+by inheritance and partly by marriages. The new proprietor converted
+it into an hotel, giving it his own name--_Hotel Danieli_.
+
+Although the use to which this Palace, which once occupied so large
+a place in the glories of the history of Venice, has been put during
+the present century is very different from that for which it was built,
+it has always been kept most worthily, first by Danieli, then by his
+daughter Alfonsina, the wife of Vespasiano Muzzarelli, then by his
+grand-daughter, Giuseppina Roux, and last by S.S. Genovesi and Campi;
+so that it had the honour, which it still possesses, of being chosen
+by Emperors, Kings, Princes, and Ambassadors, and by great men of all
+countries whose artistic travels bring them to this incomparable city,
+so justly called the «Pearl of the Adriatic».
+
+To the honour of the proprietors, who have succeeded one another in this
+hotel, be it said that although, from time to time, certain works have
+been executed in this historic Palace, to adapt it to its new use as an
+hotel, yet not only have the staircases, the saloons and the various
+apartments been preserved just as they were, but the artistic beauties,
+and the historical souvenirs, have been carefully respected; the
+stuccoes and frescoes of the XVIth and XVIIth century have been spared;
+and the portraits and heraldic shields of the Dandolos, the Bernardos,
+and the Mocenigos can still be admired today in their original
+positions.
+
+
+[Illustration: PANORAMAS FROM THE BALCONIES OF THE PALAZZO DANDOLO
+(NOW HOTEL ROYAL DANIELI)]
+
+
+[Illustration: PANORAMAS FROM THE BALCONIES OF THE PALAZZO DANDOLO
+(NOW HOTEL ROYAL DANIELI)]
+
+
+It will surely be agreeable to the travellers who come to lodge in
+this remarkable building to know its origin and its history. We propose
+to give them a rapid sketch of both; and we believe it will not be
+uninteresting to them to know that in the halls and chambers they
+inhabit, some of the most important acts of the great Venetian Republic
+have been discussed and decided upon; and that in this Palace besides
+Doges and Senators, Kings and Ambassadors, Alfred de Musset (then a fair
+and charming young man in delicate health) took up his abode, in 1833,
+and Balzac, mme George Sand (who here wrote her novel _Leone
+Leoni_), and Victor Feuillet, who, for his magnificent romance
+«L'Honnêteté», drew his inspiration from Venetian subjects.
+
+But to return to the ancient history of the Palace (now Hotel Royal
+Danieli) it was built in 1400, by one of the Dandolo families, but
+whether by that of the great Doge, Enrico Dandolo, is not quite certain.
+In the _Chronicles of Malipiero_ which date from 1457 to 1500 we
+find the following passage «Today, the 28th August 1498, have arrived
+the Ambassadors of Florence, Rucellai and Vespucci; who are lodged in
+the Palazzo Dandolo, in the Calle delle Razze». We should here remark
+that the beautiful Gothic door, in the Calle delle Razze was originally
+the principle entrance, and the one on the Riva degli Schiavoni has
+only been opened in recent years for the convenience of travellers.
+
+We find confirmation of what has been said as to the date of the Palace,
+and as to the family who built it, in the _Diary of Sanudo_, in
+which he tells us that «on the 7th April 1498 the Prince of Salerno came
+to Venice. A most brilliant reception was given him, great _festas_
+were held in his honour, and he, and his suite of forty-four persons
+were lodged in the Dandolo Palace of the _Calle delle Razze_».
+
+Sanudo tells us again that «in 1499, this magnificent abode was
+prepared, by order of the Republic, to receive worthily the French
+Ambassadors».
+
+We could cite many other historical passages proving that this Palace
+had belonged to the Dandolo family, but one more, and a very interesting
+one, must suffice. In _Sanudo's Diary_ we read again «On the
+evening of the 21 February 1531 the orator Cesareo, in the Palace
+Dandolo, Calle delle Razze, on the quay, gave a very great feast, with
+fireworks concerts, and illuminated boats, Spanish fashion, on the Canal
+of St. Mark's, on the occasion of the elevation of the king of Hungary
+and Boemia, to the dignity of a King of the Romans».
+
+This historic Palace passed from the Dandolos to the Gritti family, in
+1536, by a deed of sale; and it is not without interest to note that to
+distinguish it from others of the same name, it is called in the deed,
+«that Palazzo Dandolo in which generally abides the Ambassadors of
+France».
+
+
+[Illustration: ATRIUM AND DUCAL STAIRS IN THE PALAZZO DANDOLO]
+
+
+After the Dandolos and the Grittis, the Michiel, the Mocenigo and the
+Bernardo families became its possessors by marriage, and they retained
+it till the beginning of the present century, when, as we have said,
+its second floor was sold, by the noble Dame Helen Michiel, widow of
+Alvise Bernardo to Dal Niel. Dal Niel left it to his daughter Alfonsina
+Muzzarelli, who was able, in 1840 to buy the first floor from the noble
+Filippo Nani, the heir of the Mocenigos; and thus the whole building
+passed to her daughter Giuseppina Roux, and forms the present Hotel
+Royal Danieli.
+
+The interior of this beautiful Palace we have already described its
+architecture in Venetian Gothic, and Sansovino's hand is to be traced
+in many of its details. It well deserves the reputation that it enjoys
+of being one of the noblest hotels in the world--indeed its artistic
+beauties, and its historic associations, can only be equalled by its
+unique and romantic position. Mme Georges Sand, who lodged in the hotel
+in May 1834, as she watched from her balcony the sun setting over the
+enchanting scene spread out before her, writes in her Letters of a
+Traveller--«The sun had set behind the Euganean hills, great purple
+clouds hung in the sky over Venice. The tower of St Mark's, the domes
+of Sta. Maria, and the forest of spires and minarets that rise from all
+parts of Venice, were drawn in black outline against the burnished
+horizon. The sky passed, by an admirable gradation, from cherry red to
+enamelled blue; and the water, calm and limpid as a glass, gave back the
+exact reflection of this immense iridescence. Nearer the town the lagoon
+was like a vast mirror of bronze. Never had I seen Venice so lovely and
+so fairy-like».
+
+To the beauty of a panorama unequalled in the world, that is spread
+before the windows of the hotel to its historic associations to the
+purity and the grandeur of its architecture, to the Venetian
+sumptuousness of its halls and chambers (including the green saloon of
+the Doges) to the magnificence of its Atrium and staircase--preserved in
+its original XVth cent. condition, must now be added the important works
+of restoration and embellishment just completed by the present
+proprietors who by the aid of clever architects, artists and decorators,
+have studied the means of bringing into requisition all the modern
+appliances, in the way of Steam and Electricity, to produce luxury and
+comfort, without taking from this interesting Venetian monument its
+original character, which carries the traveller back to the epoch of the
+Dandolos, the Grittis, the Bernardos, the Michielis and the Mocenigos.
+
+
+[Illustration: SCALA D'ORO]
+
+
+
+
+THE NEW YORK HERALD
+
+(European Edition) of April 14th
+
+says:
+
+We have pleasure in offering to the readers of the NEW YORK HERALD
+a few details about this splendid hotel, which, because of its ancient
+history, its modern additions, its internal arrangements, its
+topografical position at Venice, is one of the most interesting hotels
+in Italy.
+
+We will begin by pointing out the frame is worthy of the picture. Among
+all the cities of the world, incontestably the most beautiful and the
+most unique is Venice--the «Queen of the Adriatic».
+
+Venice for the traveler, for the artist, for the poet, is far more
+interesting than Naples, and even than Rome. The shores of Naples,
+however enchanting, the monuments of Rome, however incomparable, can be
+pictured by the imagination even without visiting them, but Venice can
+be comprehended and realized only by seeing it with the eyes and by
+living its life, and the more this is done, the greater becomes the
+admiration excited.
+
+The enchanting mysteries of its canals and of its picturesque streets
+and calles, the grandeur of its monuments and of its palaces, which rise
+as by enchantment from the limpid water, the atmosphere of poetry and
+art which surrounds it, are not to be described, or if described present
+but a faint picture of the reality.
+
+This, then, being the romantic frame, the picture as spread out before
+the windows of the Palazzo Dandolo, now Royal Hotel Danieli, which
+stands in the finest part of the Riva degli Schiavoni, is worthy of it,
+making an unequalled panorama, which extends from the Piazzetta with the
+Molo, the Columns, St. Mark's Church and the Doge's Palace away round to
+the Public Gardens. The front, which is due south, faces the broad Basin
+of St. Mark, dotted with gondolas and boats of all kinds, and the broad
+lagoons, with their treasures and their mysteries. The red church of San
+Giorgio Maggiore and the great dome of the Salute, reflect themselves
+in the water to the right, backed, in the far distance, by the blue
+volcanic hills of Padua: while to the left is Byron's island of San
+Lazzaro, and the long low banks of the Lido that defend Venice from
+the waves of the Adriatic.
+
+
+[Illustration: SMOKING-ROOM AND AMERICAN BAR]
+
+
+[Illustration: PUBLIC DRAWING ROOM]
+
+
+But the palace itself, famous in the history of Venice, having been
+built in 1400 by the great family of Dandolo (and which is now the
+Royal Hotel Danieli), forms an integral part of the picture, for it is
+one of the most magnificent palaces of Venice; and we shall presently
+give our readers a historical sketch of it, which we trust will prove
+interesting. Meanwhile we must mention that to this ancient and
+sumptuous palace, with its Atrium and Loggia, with its grand ducal
+staircase, its ample reception halls, its «golden stairs», its rooms
+decorated with stucco and precious carvings, its Sansovino ceiling
+beams, its wooden mosaic floors, and its bifurcated windows and ogival
+balconies, which recall the history of Bianca Cappello, has been added
+a second palace, equally large and imposing, but one built on purpose
+for a hotel.
+
+This second building is modern--modern in all its details, as we shall
+see in due course.
+
+The exterior of these two palaces, of which the architecture presents
+a remarkable contrast, can be admired in the following engraving.
+
+The building to the right of the spectator is the modern Palace, that on
+the left the ancient Dandolo Palace--each splendid in its own style--and
+the one in the distance is the famous Palace of the Doges.
+
+To describe the interior of these two handsome edifices is very
+difficult, but the accompanying engraving, which represents the
+_Atrium_ of the Palazzo Dandolo, with its magnificent ducal
+staircase, will give some idea of their beauty. Around this Atrium are
+a number of fine halls and offices, with the water-gate opening on to
+a side canal with a marble landing-stage for the gondolas. Near to the
+water-gate is the _Railway Office_ (a convenience possessed by
+no other hotel in Venice), where tickets can be taken and luggage be
+registered without any trouble to the traveler. Next this is the
+luggage office.
+
+Opposite the land entrance is the _Porter's Lodge_, where one or
+more porters are always to be found at the disposition of travelers. On
+the left hand is a _Post Office_ with, for the greater security of
+all correspondence, a Government letter-box; and close by, the _Bureau
+of the Hotel_, with offices for the _cashier_, for _money changing_,
+and for _Bank business_.
+
+Opposite the grand stairs is a luxurious _Smoking Room_, its walls
+hung with rich material, and furnished in Oriental comfort and style,
+with an _American Bar_ leading out of it. Next it, are two spacious
+_Reading and Writing Rooms_, containing the principal newspapers
+and illustrated publications of the world.
+
+
+[Illustration: READING ROOM]
+
+
+On the right hand of the main door is a large _Public Drawing
+Room,_ style of 1700, with handsome stucco-work, and gilt furniture
+covered with rich stuffs, with the hangings and wall-coverings all _en
+suite_. This room alone would repay a visit to the hotel. Some idea
+can be formed of it from the following engravings, though, of course,
+the full effect of its richness and color is lost. In the two palaces
+there are a number of other such drawing-rooms, besides a concert hall,
+ballroom, music room and billiard room, &c. There are also bath rooms
+and douche baths on every floor. On the ground floor are the
+_kitchens_, the _wine cellars_, the _ice cellars_, the apparatus
+for _heating_ the whole buildings by steam, thus spreading a
+uniform temperature throughout the two Palaces. Here is also the
+machinery for the _lifts_, the centre for the distribution of the
+_electric light_ and the boilers and _syphons_ for giving _hot water_
+direct into all the apartments. All this deserves being examined from
+the novelty of the systems employed and from the exquisite order and
+tidiness which everywhere reigns.
+
+We will not describe the _bedrooms_ and _sitting rooms_,
+except to say that they have all been recently done up and richly
+furnished with the utmost artistic taste and are all lit with
+electricity. Many of the apartments have been preserved in the original
+style, especially the _Saloon of the Doges_, No. 9, which with the
+adjoining rooms, Nos. 10, 11 and 12, all of which overlook the Riva
+degli Schiavoni and the magnificent panorama already described.
+
+The _wines_ and _the table_ are a great speciality of the
+Hotel Royal Danieli, all being of the very highest order, and its
+_dining rooms_ and _restaurant_ arranged with small and separate tables,
+have an unusual character all their own.
+
+The _dining rooms_ are decorated in an entirely novel style and one
+that is truly poetic. The great windows of ground glass are transformed
+into eight lovely winter gardens of rare plants, which are reproduced in
+the big mirrors which line the walls, and the electric light, which
+hangs in delicate Venetian glass lily pendants round the ceiling,
+produces a most charming and unusual effect.
+
+The two great _restaurant_ halls are furnished in pure style of the
+Empire, for all the stuffs and decorations are copied from the best
+works that treat of that period, and are among the richest and choicest
+of that famous epoch.
+
+Thus, by a series of ingenious combinations these two palaces, so different
+from each other in many ways, blend themselves in one harmonious and
+artistic whole, and in them are united the greatest luxury with the utmost
+comfort.
+
+
+[Illustration: SALON OF THE DOGES]
+
+
+To give an idea of the whole we will imagine that a traveler is staying
+in the apartment of the Doge--which recalls all the pomp and grandeur
+of old Venice--to go to the breakfast-room and restaurant we will pass
+through the great Sansovino ball-room, then through the Rose saloon, by
+the side of which is the music-room (style Empire), and the gallery of
+tapestry and majolica, and thus reaches the Empire decorated restaurants
+which we have already described.
+
+In the evening at dinner-time the traveler would, instead, descend by
+successive steps, through a Renaissance vestibule, to the beautiful
+winter garden dining-halls, which, especially when lit up by the soft
+radiance of the electric lilies, makes a perfect fairy scene.
+
+Round the ball-room on the first floor runs an uncovered _loggia_,
+from whence one can look down into the court of honor, or Venetian
+Atrium, in which of an evening characteristic concerts are frequently
+given. From the first floor the great «scala d'oro» conducts one to the
+second floor, where are the spacious concert-room and various handsome
+suites of ancient and modern apartments.
+
+To the honor of the proprietors who have succeeded one another, be it
+said, that although from time to time certain works have been executed
+in this historic palace to adapt it to its new use as a hotel, yet not
+only have the staircases, the saloons and the various apartments been
+preserved just as they were, but the artistic beauties and the historic
+souvenirs have been carefully respected, the stuccoes and frescoes
+of the sixteenth and seventeenth century have been spared, and the
+portraits and heraldic shields of the Dandolos, the Bernardos and the
+Mocenigos can still be admired to-day in their original positions.
+
+Although the use to which this Palace, which once occupied so large a
+place in the glories of the history of Venice, has been put during the
+present century is very different from that which it was built, it has
+always been kept most worthily, first by Danieli, then by his daughter
+Alfonsina, the wife of Vespasiano Muzzarelli; then by his granddaughter,
+Giuseppina Roux, and, last, by S.S. Genovesi and Campi, so that it had
+the honor, which it still possesses, of being chosen by Emperors, Kings,
+Princes and Ambassadors, and by great men of all countries whose
+artistic travels bring them to this incomparable city, so justly called
+the «Pearl of the Adriatic».
+
+The delightful impression made on those who inhabit the Hotel Royal
+Danieli has been expressed over and over again to their friends, and
+they have often said to the proprietors that they have rather felt as if
+visiting in the house of a friend, or in a princely mansion, than in an
+hotel, even though in the greatest hotel in the world.
+
+
+[Illustration: SANSOVINO HALL]
+
+
+In this lovely palace the traveler feels _at home_. All is artistic
+and poetical. No long passages, painted in imitation marble, cold and
+draughty, and dreary! No long endless tables and big red velvet divans,
+as in a cafe! No long rows of rooms in which the furniture is so much
+alike that you cannot tell if you are in your own room or someone
+else's! Here is nothing conventional, nothing that is to be seen
+everywhere--whether among the mountains of Switzerland or on the
+boulevards of Paris, and which makes the traveler's life monotonous
+wherever he may be. Here, on the contrary, he finds himself in an
+atmosphere of _home_, of comfort, and of suitability to his
+position, however exalted that may be, and one in keeping with his
+romantic surroundings.
+
+This has been the aim of those who have directed the decorations of the
+Hotel Royal Danieli, and they are happy in the thought that they have
+succeeded to the satisfaction of the visitors.
+
+_To sum up_. The Hotel Royal Danieli, now entirely restored and
+embellished from ground to roof and decorated by the best Venetian
+artists, arranged with all the most modern appliances for comfort,
+can offer the following conveniences for travelers:--
+
+  POST OFFICE.
+  RAILWAY OFFICE.
+  MONEY EXCHANGE AND BANKING OFFICE.
+  TWO LIFTS.
+  ELECTRIC LIGHT IN EVERY ROOM.
+  STEAM HEATERS.
+  BATHS AND DOUCHE BATHS ON EVERY FLOOR.
+  STEAM BOILERS FOR HOT WATER.
+  PRIVATE LAUNDRY.
+  COURT OF HONOR, OR ATRIUM.
+  READING-ROOMS.
+  WRITING-ROOM.
+  SMOKING-ROOM AND AMERICAN BAR.
+  PUBLIC DRAWING-ROOM.
+  LADIES' DRAWING-ROOM.
+  CONCERT HALL.
+  BALL ROOM.
+  MUSIC ROOM.
+  BILLIARD ROOM.
+  RESTAURANT, AT EVERY HOUR.
+  TABLE D'HOTE, AT SEPARATE TABLES, &c., &c.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: STEPS AND RENAISSANCE VESTIBULE]
+
+
+[Illustration: HALL OF THE WINTER GARDENS]
+
+
+Table d'hote at separate tables, &c., &c., and all conducted according
+to the most modern systems of comfort and elegance.
+
+Although the present proprietors, Messrs. Genovesi, Campi, Bozzi
+& Co., have spent a veritable fortune this year in restorations and
+embellishments, so as to render the Hotel Royal Danieli the most
+comfortable, the most artistic and the most aristocratic hotel in
+Europe, yet they have in nothing augmented the prices, but have retained
+those moderate rates which have helped to render the Hotel Danieli so
+famous.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Nota bene--The ancient Palazzo Dandolo, now Hotel Royal Danieli, and all
+its internal arrangements, deserves a special visit from travelers who
+are sojourning in Venice, and the proprietors will be most happy to show
+the palace to all interested in the sights of Venice, whether they are
+resident in the hotel or not.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Summary History of the Palazzo
+Dandolo, by Anonymous
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13870 ***