Carlo Goldoni in Eighteenth-century Venice: homes, public venues and a theatrical revolution

Ca’ Centanni in the San Tomà area was Caro Goldoni’s birthplace, and within its atmospheric Gothic courtyard is a large panel with a reproduction of a topographical map of Venice by Lodovico Ughi, the last – and most detailed – cartographical account of the urban layout of Venice in the eighteenth century. On this map one can see the location of the nine different places within the city where Goldoni lived at one time or another, together with the sites of the numerous theatres (a good fifteen of them) which were one of the reasons why Venice was then amongst the cultural capitals of Europe. This panel is the starting-point for an account of the life of the great playwright and of the specific characteristics of theatre at the time. Within the exhibition itself, various rooms contain “set pieces” that evoke key episodes in some of his most famous plays. And as the visit takes one past these, it aims to highlight the great cultural and theatrical revolution with which one can credit Goldoni, a playwright whose works replaced the stock figures of Commedia dell’Arte with characters who reflected the actual feelings and aspirations the “populace and middling sort” within the Venice of his day.
The itinerary then ideally passes on to Ca’ Rezzonico, where paintings by Pietro Longhi, a friend and associate of Goldoni’s, capture the same climate and reveal the same documentary intent. To this end, a short dossier to illustrating how to reach the museum and its highlights will be made available to participants, so that they can continue their explorations on their own.

Length: 1 hour 30 minutes
Language: Italian, English or French