View from the loggia at the second floor of Palazzo Ca D'Oro, Venice, Italy (photo)

XV century Ca' d'Oro (Palazzo Santa Sofia) on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is known as Ca' d'Oro ("golden house") due to the gilt and polychrome external decorations which once adorned its walls. The palace was built between 1428 and 1430 for the Contarini family, who provided Venice with eight Doges between 1043 and 1676. The architects of the Ca d'Oro were Giovanni Bon and his son Bartolomeo Bon. It gathers up the important art collection of the Baron Giorgio Franchetti (1865-1927), who in 1916 donated his collections and the building itself to the Italian State.