Venice’s ancient government complex, the Procuratie Vecchie (Old Procuracies) in St Mark’s Square, is open to the public for the first time in 500 years.
The iconic building runs from the Torre dell’Orologio to the Museo Correr. Its owner, insurance giant Assicurazioni Generali, funded a restoration of the 12,400 square metres of the three-storey complex.
The project, led by English architect David Chipperfield, took five years to complete. The building is now the home of the Human Safety Net foundation, devoted to inclusion, innovation and sustainability.
History of the Procuratie Vecchie
Piazza San Marco is one of the most famous squares in the world. The initial Procuratie Vecchie building was constructed in the 13th century. It consisted of a continuous one-storey structure above a long ground-floor arcade.
The architect Bartolomeo Bon and later by Jacopo Sansovino in the first half of the sixteenth century, designed its current form under the renovatio urbis programme of Doge Andrea Gritti.
After the renovato urbis in the 1530’s, only politicians and royalty used the Procuratie. The Doges of Venice and their governors used the building as their headquarters for nearly three hundred years.
In 1832, just months after the company’s founding in Trieste, Generali opened its first offices in the Procuratie Vecchie.
The Human Safety Net Foundation
The Procurators of Saint Mark in addition to being senior city officials, were also responsible for looking after the poor and needy of Venice. Staying true to its original mission, the Procuratie Vecchie now fulfills these ambitions on a global scale.
The Human Safety Net believes that no-one should be held back from reaching their full potential. The new exhibition in the Procuratie Vecchie offers visitors an immersive and interactive voyage of discovery of their own potential. Visitors come to understand and connect with their potential by exploring their character strengths, while also enabling them to see the best qualities of the people all around them.
At the opening ceremony, Philip Donnet, CEO of Generali said, “We want to represent a new capitalism, a humane capitalism”.
