"The restructuring of Sicher’s Inn [in 1911] is maybe one of Sicher’s most famous realizations. It is a smaller alternative of wooden chalet-type inspired to the Viennese school and to Secessionist architecture. The Inn was perhaps the most ancient building on the island. It was located on Pisani family’s estate of 1573 and was named Ca' Pisani in the old drawings".

COSMAI 2005, page 161

"In 1921 he [Giovanni Sicher] obtained the authorization from the Committee on Decorations to the project modifying the Inn, which was approved on March 11, 1921. The building was radically transformed: the ground and the first floor are larger, the second floor and an attic are added in the central plant. In May 1922, during an inspection, the addition of the second floor turned out to be unauthorized”.

COSMAI 2005, page 163

“Some structures of the ancient architecture came to present days incorporated in the construction of the early twentieth century. Some arcades are partially visible on the northwest side, where the kitchens are located, and others, together with a flue, have recently appeared in the bar room. [...] This constant and substantial enlargements of the structure are the evidence of a regular increase of the activity. The projects concerning reforms, elevations and the annexe go back to 1905 and 1926 and are undersigned by Sicher and his son Giovanni. […]. Regarding the family inn, the two planners, inspired by cottage and chalet-type, enriched more and more the simple decorations as time went on. Like in other stylistically similar constructions planned by the Sicher, fanciful mixtures and ornamental liberty-style digressions are also present. Outside, the rustic simplicity of the ashlar basement, the white cladding, the carved cornice, the wooden balconies and eaves is jauntily apposed to the aulic early Renaissance style of the wrought iron portals, whose elaborate fan windows show the initials “GS” of the owners/planners. This juxtaposition is also evident in the lively liberty polychrome of the small glass doors and in the trompe-l'œil cladding of the small annexe on the left side of the main building”.

SILANOS 2002, pages 16-17

Description of the architecture

The hotel is a three and a half storey building and has a rectangular plan, with a height of 10.5 m., occupying a surface of 535 sqm. and a volume of 5619 cm. The annexe enclosure includes a garden. The exterior walls are white. The roof is partly pitched and partly truncated and is realised with tiles and is sustained frontally by wooden brackets.

Outdoor ornamental elements

The realisation of the building is inspired to the chalet-type. In the new construction some elements of the XVI century are preserved. The windows are almost all rectangular and the rest of them are round arched. The wooden balconies are sustained by brackets, also made in wood. Round arched windows and French windows of the ground floor are protected by wrought iron railings, where the initials “GS” of the planners are visible. The lower part of the ground floor and the edges of the windows are made in terracotta, colour contrasting with the white plaster of the remaining outdoor walls.

Indoor Ornamental Elements

The inward entrance is allowed by a round arched door. Every space is divided by round arches, over which a wrought iron inscription with the name of the room is hanging: "bar", "restaurant", "lettura", "bureau", "stanze", etc. The smithery of Umberto Bellotto, at that time famous master of iron working, produced the inscriptions and other wrought iron elements as the torch holders and the wheel lamps. The rooms, all different one from the other in furnishings, are reachable through an interrupted straight staircase that separates the main room from the ground floor. Another arch admits to the restaurant, floored in black and white. The restaurant is divided into two spaces: the main hall, and a smaller room. The first is named fireplace hall after the presence of a 16th century fireplace, ornamented with two lions and four 16th century columns. The ceilings are made of timber-beams and coffers. The furnishings, part of the Bevilacqua family’s collection, include a large variety of accessories: small bags of the beginnings of last century, fans, pupi, Murano chandeliers, ceramics, etc. Some of the original walls in the bar room were left exposed to view intentionally.

Stylistic references

Eclettic

Historical information

Between 1573 and 1575 Gian Antonio Rusconi and Andrea Palladio realized the project commissioned by the patrician Daniele Pisani. The building was originally used as ridotto (foyer) or casino and in the 19th century it became an inn. In 1848, as shown in the bill of sale, the building was sold to Manenti family. But at the end of the century the land became part of the Sichers’ ownership and the inn was left to the farmer Giuseppe Tramontin and to his wife. Between 1905 and 1926 it was restructured and transformed into hotel by eng. Giuseppe Sicher (1910) and by his son Giovanni Battista (1921). In 1954 eng. Sicher’s heiresses sold the building to Bevilacqua family, who brought there a collection of furnishings enriched year after year.