Palazzo Soranzo

Palazzo Soranzo faces the wide expanse of Campo San Polo from a pair of adjoining Gothic palaces, built a century apart in the 14th and 15th centuries. Pointed arches, carved marble window frames, and a broad eight-window loggia across the newer wing's upper floor make it one of the most complete Gothic facades still standing on the square.

The building has never opened its doors to visitors -- it remains a private home, still linked by name to the noble family that has owned it for centuries -- but its facade rewards a slow look from the campo below.

This is somebody's home, subdivided into apartments and offices, and it has never admitted visitors. The engraved ducal horn on the bell plate is charming and it is still a doorbell on a private door.

Everything worth seeing is visible from the campo, free, at any hour. There is no arrangement to be asked for at the entrance and no custodian to ask.

Campo San Polo is one of the few large squares in central Venice still used mainly by the people who live around it. Crossing it is normal; treating it as a venue is what the residents already have to put up with several times a year.

Palazzo Soranzo is a private residence and has never been open to the public. The only way to see it is from Campo San Polo itself, where its Gothic facade is visible at any time, free of charge. The square is a short walk from the Rialto Bridge and is one of the largest in Venice, second only to Piazza San Marco.