The Vendramin Family Archive

From 31 January 2025 to 25 January 2026
Venice, Carlo Goldoni’s House

Curated by Chiara Squarcina, Ilaria Peruzzet

The House of Carlo Goldoni with its museum contains a very important Theatrical Library that holds the archives of the ancient Teatro di San Luca, built in 1622 by the Vendramin family, among the most prestigious members of the Venetian aristocracy. Of the ancient Venetian theatres, it is the one that has existed for the longest time, and it continues its activities in the present (having been renamed the Teatro Goldoni).

The Vendramin family, enrolled in the Venetian patriciate in 1381, owned some small houses in the parish of San Luca that were destroyed by fire in 1595. When they had to invest new capital in the reconstruction of the site, it was decided to erect a theatre of comedy. Hence family became theatre-owners, with varied fortunes, from about 1630 until the mid-20th century, when the Municipality of Venice made a declaration of public utility of the theatre complex and expropriated it in 1956.

The Vendramin record group is therefore an essential source for studies of the Venetian theatre, in particular with regard to both Carlo Goldoni’s work at the Teatro di San Luca and other Venetian theatres, and the presence in Venice of important comic actors of the time, such as Antonio Sacchi, Giuseppe Imer and many others.

The archive contains all the documents concerning the foundation of the theatre and its subsequent restoration at various times, together with hundreds of letters and contracts of actors in the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as records of expenses, inventories, files of records of civil and criminal cases, lists of properties and tenants of theatre boxes, and the indexes of comedies performed in the theatre. In addition it contains the three original contracts between Goldoni and the nobleman Francesco Vendramin, impresario of the Teatro di San Luca, and some thirty autograph letters from the playwright to Vendramin himself.

Admission to the exhibition with the Museum’s hours and ticket.