A seventeenth-century palazzo at the confluence of the Cannaregio Canal and the Grand Canal, renowned for its ballroom frescoed by Giambattista Tiepolo between 1746 and 1747 with scenes from the life of Cleopatra. The frescoes -- The Banquet of Cleopatra and The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra -- are considered among Tiepolo's finest secular works, combining architectural trompe-l'oeil, luminous colour, and theatrical narrative in a unified decorative scheme that dissolves the room's walls into an imaginary classical world. The palazzo has been owned by RAI (Italian state television) since 1964 and serves as their Venice headquarters, a fact that limits public access to guided tours on specific days or by advance arrangement. This restricted access means the Tiepolo frescoes are seen by far fewer visitors than his work at Ca' Rezzonico or the Residenz in Wurzburg, preserving an air of privilege and discovery for those who gain entry. The Labia family, Spanish-origin merchants who bought their way into the Venetian nobility in the seventeenth century, commissioned the palazzo and its decoration as a statement of their cultural ambition. The legendary profligacy of the family -- epitomised by the (probably apocryphal) story of throwing gold plates into the canal after a banquet while declaring "L'abia o non l'abia, saro sempre Labia" (whether I have it or not, I will always be Labia) -- the frescoes' Cleopatra theme deliberately evoked. The palazzo's location at the Ponte delle Guglie, where the Cannaregio Canal meets the Grand Canal, provides impressive water approaches from two directions. The Guglie vaporetto stop on Line 1 is immediately adjacent. Visits typically require advance booking through RAI or through cultural tour operators with access arrangements. The building's architectural significance extends beyond the frescoes: the facade design, with its grand windows overlooking the Cannaregio Canal, and the interior spatial sequence from portego through to the ballroom demonstrate the full repertoire of Venetian baroque palazzo design at the moment of the Republic's final flowering before its fall in 1797.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Campo San Geremia, Cannaregio 275, Venice, Italy, 30121