Ca' Corner della Regina, thanks to the collaboration between Venice's Fondazione Musei Civici and the Prada Foundation, is set to become an important new landmark in Venice's cultural landscape.

Venice's Fondazione Musei Civici—which is in charge of Ca' Corner della Regina, an historic palazzo belonging to the City of Venice—has identified the Prada Foundation as the ideal partner to implement the ambitious project of restoring this elegant building.

While respecting the restrictions imposed by laws concerning the restoration of buildings of major artistic and historical importance, the project will be realized over a period of six years, with the option of being renewed for another six. It will be broken down into three phases of intervention.

The first, by common agreement, envisages the securing of all surfaces of precious artistic and architectural value, the surveying of all the inconsistent structural elements, the maintenance of door-frames and window-frames, the elimination of leftover materials, and the recuperation of spaces for offices and facilities. This work will make it possible for part of the palazzo to be opened in late May while the planning for successive phases is still underway.

Charged exclusively with the management of Ca' Corner della Regina, the Prada Foundation, in agreement with the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, and on the basis of a shared cultural program, will promote activities comprising exhibitions, research and study aimed at deepening contemporary artistic languages.

Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli, co-presidents of the Prada Foundation, declared: "We are happy to accept the exacting challenge of renovating the extraordinary palazzo, Ca' Corner della Regina, while fully respecting its history, with the goal of offering to the city of Venice, and beyond, a stimulating program of important events in the realm of the Arts for the full duration of our mandate."

Walter Hartsarich, President of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, added: "I warmly thank the Prada Foundation for marrying the city's cultural integration needs to those of our foundation to complete the variegated mosaic of Venetian museum structures with the opening of a new space dedicated to contemporary culture."

Palazzo Corner della Regina
Looking onto the Grand Canal, it is a perfect specimen of the Venetian Baroque. Built in 1724–1728 by Domenico Rossi at the behest of the Corner family of San Cassiano atop the ruins of the old palazzo in which Caterina Corner, the future queen of Cyprus, was born, the architecture draws from the style of Baldassare Longhena's nearby Ca' Pesaro, now the site of the Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna. Modulated over three levels, the building stands tall and graceful, thanks in part to two mezzanines between the ground floor and first floor, with a façade of Istrian stone rusticated over the ground floor and mezzanine. The last descendant of the Corner family bequeathed the palazzo to Pope Pius VII; the building later housed the congregation of the Padri Cavanis, the Monte di Pietà, and the Historical Archive of the Biennale.

Fondazione Prada:
Press office: tel. +39.02 54670202 fax +39 02 54670702; press@fondazioneprada.org

Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia
Press office: tel. +39 0412715921 fax +39 0415285028; press@fmcvenezia.it;