Save Venice is seeking a sponsor for the 2025 conservation of the Sala d’Oro and Cappella del Rosario.

*Published sponsorship costs are subject to change due to conservation plan modifications and fluctuations in exchange rates.

Please contact araby@savevenice.org today for more information and the latest cost estimates.

In 2023, Save Venice spearheaded the successful pilot program of conservation fieldwork by the IVBC Restoration School to restore 18th-century stucco and frescoes at Venice’s Music Conservatory in Palazzo Pisani. Continuing its support in 2024, Save Venice funded a full-year program of stucco and marmorino conservation in three rooms that house the Music Conservatory’s museum of musical instruments and the adjacent staircase–located in the mezzanine level of the south-east wing of Palazzo Pisani.

In 2025, the partnership continues in the Sala d’Oro and adjacent Cappella del Rosario on the piano nobile, where second-year restoration students and recent graduates are gaining valuable hands-on experience through their fieldwork project to restore the ornate 18th-century stucco and fresco decoration in the Sala d’Oro and Chapel of the Rosario.

This innovative partnership between two of Venice’s prestigious educational institutions enriches the students’ experience by creating a unique “school within a school.” These important efforts help preserve Venice’s artistic heritage, invest in the future of young professionals, and enhance the city’s artistic, economic, and cultural vitality.

The Sala d’Oro is among the most “richly and vaguely adorned” rooms, as described by a chronicler visiting the Pisani residence at the end of the 18th century. Once accessed through the first portego, it served as one of the gallery rooms where the Pisani displayed their vast collection of paintings and sculptures. The ceiling is adorned with intricate stucco work in white, green, and gold, with a large oval with interlace. It is likely that this decoration was created by the well-known plasterer Giuseppe Ferrari, in the late 1770s.

The adjoining Chapel or Oratory of the Rosario probably dates to 1717, as indicated by two inscriptions in the apse, and it was re-worked several times in interventions over the past few centuries. It features fifteen episodes from the life of Christ, including the Flagellation and Crucifixion, depicted in the lunettes and monochrome scenes in the compartments of the ceiling. The small altar holds a canvas depicting the Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine, by the Roman artist Ciro Ferri (1634–1689).

Today these rooms are used by the Conservatory for special exhibitions, student rehearsal space, and educational activities.

The chromatic brilliance of the stuccowork on the ceiling of the Sala d’Oro had become dull due to the accumulation of dirt and grime, as well as discolored repainting that had been applied in certain areas in a previous interventions. The surfaces will be carefully cleaned and the structural integrity of the decoration will be examined to ensure that there is no risk of pieces detaching and falling. Any cracks or areas of detachment will be secured and integrated. Other small areas of damage to the decoration will be repaired, and any chromatic losses will be integrated using reversible conservation colors and glazes, ensuring the ceiling’s visual balance is restored with respect to its late 18th-century materials.

The legibility of the frescoes in the Chapel of the Rosario was also distorted due to darkened grime, which will be carefully removed. The chapel’s stone surfaces, including the portals, fireplace, and altar, will also undergo a gentle cleaning, and any gaps or cracks will be repaired and filled, and any small losses to the pictorial decoration will also be integrated with reversible conservation colors and glazes.

La Nuova di Venezia | Nella Sala d’Oro di Palazzo Pisani Brillano gli Stucchi del Settecento

Verardo, Pietro. Il Conservatorio di musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia, 1876-1976: centenario della fondazione : Palazzo Pisani, Venezia. Venezia: Stamperia di Venezia, 1977