A Summary History of the Palazzo Dandolo | Page 2

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