Ca' Vendramin Calergi is a palace on the Grand Canal that is remembered as the place where composer Richard Wagner died. Wagner died of a heart attack in the palace on 13 February 1883.
Currently, it is home to the Venice Casino and the Wagner Museum. The museum is open to the public on Saturday mornings by appointment.
German composer Richard Wagner stayed in Venice six times between 1858 and his death. He arrived in Italy on his final trip not long after performances of his opera Parsifal premiered at the second Bayreuth Festival. He rented the entire piano nobile (mezzanine) level of the Ca' Vendramin Calergi from Count dei Bardi before his departure and arrived on 16 September 1882 with his wife Cosima Liszt, four children (Daniela von Bülow, Isolde, Eva and Siegfried Wagner) and household servants.
Wagner died of a heart attack in the palace on 13 February 1883 at age 69. A memorial plaque on a brick wall adjacent to the building is inscribed with a tribute by novelist and poet Gabriele d'Annunzio that reads:
In questo palagio
l'ultimo spiro di Riccardo Wagner
odono le anime perpetuarsi come la marea
che lambe i marmi
Gabriele d'Annunzio
The Wagner Museum opened at the palace in February 1995. It holds the Josef Lienhart Collection of rare documents, musical scores, signed letters, paintings, records, and other heirlooms. The holdings constitute the largest private collection dedicated to Wagner outside of Bayreuth.
The Associazione Richard Wagner di Venezia operates the museum and the Richard Wagner European Study and Research Center (Centro Europeo di Studi e Richerche Richard Wagner - C.E.S.R.R.W.). It also holds exhibitions, conferences, and concerts, and publishes scholarly papers that promote the life and works of Wagner.
The International Association of Wagner Societies also holds a symposium called Wagner Days in Venice (Giornate Wagneriane a Venezia) at the palace each autumn.
Map of Wagner Museum
AddressRoma de L'oca, 2040
30121 Venezia, Italia
