Portrait of Alessandro Vittoria painted by Giovanni Battista Moroni - Kunsthistorisches Museum - Vienna
History
In 1569, the sculptor Alessandro Vittoria, a student of the great Jacopo Sansovino, purchased several spaces in Calle della Pietà in Venice for his workshop, or "bottega". Exactly four hundred years later, in 1969, the Busetti family started its own business in the same place, by opening the Best Western Hotel Bisanzio, a small hotel (40 rooms), which it has managed ever since.
Alessandro Vittoria, with an artist's eye seeking a better place to express his talents, chose these spaces because they have very unique qualities, the same that a visitor to the city can still appreciate: the Best Western Hotel Bisanzio is located on the Riva degli Schiavoni and overlooks Saint Mark's Basin, just a stone's throw from the city's economic and cultural heart.
Vittoria's work can be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. During your visit to Venice, you can see also see them in the Churches of San Zaccaria, Santa Maria dei Frari and Santi Giovanni e Paolo or experience their fascination in the Doges Palace, the Libreria Marciana or our historic gallery.
Artistic Environment
Thanks to the valuable historical research of Dr. Victoria Avery of the University of Warwick, today we can still recognize the rooms where the sculptor created his masterpieces. Among his other work in Venice, Alessandro Vittoria is responsible for the decorations of the Libreria Marciana, the Golden Staircase in the Doges Palace and the Grimani Chapel in San Sebastiano.
San Girolamo, a work by Vittoria in the Church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo
Jove – Musée National de la Renaissance – Ecouen, France
Neptune – Victoria and Albert Museum – London, England
San Sebastiano – The Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York, NY