Locanda

Welcome to Hotel Antica Locanda Sturion Residenza d'Epoca.

Vittore Carpaccio (taken from the complete works of Carpaccio - Apparati Critici e Filosofici di Guido Perocco - Rizzoli Milan, 1967)

IL MIRACOLO DELLA CROCE
Painted in 1494 and today preserved in the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice. In this painting the Albergo dello Storione sign can be seen clearly.
The relic of the Cross has been housed since 1369 in the Scuola di S. Giovanni Evangelista . The events depicted take place in the upper loggia of the Palazzo del Patriarca in Rialto, which apparently really was as it appears in the painting; the Rialto bridge is seen in the form it was given by the refurbishment in 1458 (which it maintained until its collapse in 1524), with shops at the sides and the central section moveable to allow larger boats to pass. Along the banks of the canal stand the buildings also seen in Jacopo de Barbari's celebrated map (1500).

The Albergo dello Storione is on the left towards the centre (see sign). In the background beyond the bridge is the Rialto loggia.

The first mention of the "Albergo" Sturion goes back to the and of 1200's when the house of the hotel Sturion faced the Grand Canal from above the arcade of Calle Sturion, which hotel was desired by the Doge of Venice to house foreign merchants who came to bring their merchandise to the Rialto market.

Certainly rebuilt at the end of 1300's, its period of greatest fame came in the 1400's, when it offered hospitality to 7 ambassadors from Friuli, with their escort of 50 persons.

In the first malt of the XVI century the Locanda was again rebuilt and continues to be mentioned until the end of XVIII century.
The building was reconstructed once again and the "STURION INN" disappears to become the private house of wealthy Venetians of the period.

It becomes an "INN" once again in 1950, in the same location and on the same foundations that had witnessed seven centuries of history of the most illustrious "SERENISSIMA REPUBLIC of VENICE".

In 1494, the great Painter Vittore Carpaccio, depicted in the above painting, shown in the Gallery of "Accademia" the facade and the emblem of the "Hotel Sturion" (the storione is a type of fish) which both the street and the Locanda take their name since XIII century.