Not too distant from the Grand Canal and at the corner of campo San Beneto, there stands Palazzo Pesaro degli Orfei. The name of the palace is still today connected to the philarmonic academy that was here hosted till it moved to the Fenice Theatre in 1792.

And it was here, at the end of the 19th century, that Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo moved his art laboratory first and then his own residence. In this imposing and beautiful palace we can find one of the most fascinating places in Venice: a laboratory where to experiment and carry out as well as to exhibit all that Mariano loved, in a space of creative chaos and true inspiration for living artists still nowadays, surrounded by ancient furniture and machines, draperies, printed fabrics, paintings, photographs, costumes and theatre sketches, scenography projects and more, like sculptures, silk, velvet and his library…