Palazzi Zen, Palace in Cannaregio, Venice, Italy

Palazzo Zen is a 16th-century palace in Cannaregio, with its main facade on the Rio di Santa Caterina and a side facing the Campo dei Gesuiti. The canal front has twenty arched windows alternating with truncated-gable windows and four blind arches that once held frescoed allegories hiding chimneys. Four massive balconies with marble friezes sit above the entrances.

The palace rose in the 16th century on the Fondamenta Santa Caterina, where the Zeno family already owned older houses. Pietro Zeno and his son Francesco drafted a design, probably with advice from Sebastiano Serlio, who lived in Venice from 1528 to 1541. After both patrons died in 1538-39, the three heirs Catarino il Giovane, Giovan Battista and Vincenzo finished the building in 1555 and split it into three properties in 1553.

The palace's name comes from the Zeno (Zen) family, who built it in the 16th century. A stone plaque placed by the city in 1881 recalls the 14th-century navigators Nicolò and Antonio Zeno, who likely lived on this site before the palace was built. Along the roof cornice, relief figures mix classical grotesques with palms and camels, a reference to the family's trade and diplomatic ties with the eastern Mediterranean.

The palace is a private residence and cannot be visited inside; its canal facade on the Rio di Santa Caterina and the side facing Campo dei Gesuiti are seen from outside. Near the Campiello di Sant'Antonio a 16th-century marble votive capital stands beside the building. The small Oratorio dei Crociferi, attached to the nearby hospice founded with a Zen bequest, can be visited.

The roofline carries a band of relief figures mixing Renaissance grotesques with palms and camels, a reference to the Zen family's trade and diplomatic ties with the eastern Mediterranean. A 19th-century plaque on the facade honours the 14th-century navigators Nicolò and Antonio Zeno, who likely lived on this site before the palace was built.