{"id":2662,"date":"2026-01-08T17:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T16:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casanovaofficialmuseum.com\/journal\/pietro-zaguri-author-and-architect-art-poetry-and-projects-in-eighteenth-century-venice\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T12:05:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T10:05:28","slug":"pietro-zaguri-author-and-architect-art-poetry-and-projects-in-eighteenth-century-venice","status":"publish","type":"journal","link":"https:\/\/www.casanovaofficialmuseum.com\/en\/journal\/pietro-zaguri-author-and-architect-art-poetry-and-projects-in-eighteenth-century-venice\/","title":{"rendered":"Pietro Zaguri author and architect: art, poetry and projects in eighteenth-century Venice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Zaguri writer of plays and poems<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alongside his public duties and participation in Venetian social life, Pietro Zaguri devoted himself passionately to writing. He composed poetry, plays and short, light-hearted pieces, often intended to circulate in the city&#8217;s literary salons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For him, writing was a source of intellectual pleasure and a means of observing human nature, allowing him to reflect with irony on the vices and virtues of Venetian society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>&#8220;Leone e Giulietta&#8221;: a Venetian comedy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among Zaguri&#8217;s best-known works is the comedy &#8220;Leone e Giulietta&#8221;, which he himself mentions in a letter to Casanova, recalling the success it enjoyed at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story revolves around Leone, an elderly philosopher who attempts to persuade his young pupil \u2014 the son of a prince \u2014 to control his passions, particularly those of love. The young man, however, is hopelessly in love with Giulietta and seems unwilling to heed his tutor&#8217;s advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eventually, even the frivolous Giulietta undergoes a change of heart, choosing to marry the prince&#8217;s secretary rather than the prince himself, considering the former a more suitable match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plot, both playful and moralising, reflects the theatrical tastes of eighteenth-century Venice and Zaguri&#8217;s ability to combine light-hearted humour with psychological insight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The judgment of his contemporaries<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among Zaguri&#8217;s best-known works is the comedy Leone e Giulietta, which he himself mentions in a letter to Casanova, recalling the success it enjoyed at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story revolves around Leone, an elderly philosopher who attempts to persuade his young pupil \u2014 the son of a prince \u2014 to control his passions, particularly those of love. The young man, however, is hopelessly in love with Giulietta and seems unwilling to heed his tutor&#8217;s advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eventually, even the frivolous Giulietta undergoes a change of heart, choosing to marry the prince&#8217;s secretary rather than the prince himself, considering the former a more suitable match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plot, both playful and moralising, reflects the theatrical tastes of eighteenth-century Venice and Zaguri&#8217;s ability to combine light-hearted humour with psychological insight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Zaguri amateur architect<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among Zaguri&#8217;s most enduring passions was architecture, to which he devoted himself with remarkable dedication. Although not a professional architect, he was a cultivated amateur, driven by aesthetic curiosity and a desire to improve the architectural landscape of his city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He produced designs for churches, bridges and theatres, as well as undertaking alterations to his own residence, including the reconstruction of the mezzanine floor of Palazzo Zaguri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The facade of San Maurizio: a personal project<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His best-known architectural contribution is the fa\u00e7ade of the Church of San Maurizio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For this project, he was probably inspired by Sansovino&#8217;s design for the Church of San Geminiano, which once stood opposite St Mark&#8217;s Basilica and was later demolished during the Napoleonic period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zaguri reinterpreted Sansovino&#8217;s model according to his own artistic vision, striking a balance between elegance, dynamism and a more decorative approach than the emerging austerity of Neoclassical architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>La Fenice Theater and other projects<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his correspondence with Casanova, particularly in a letter dated 8 October 1790, Zaguri also mentions plans for La Fenice Theatre, reflecting his involvement in Venice&#8217;s cultural and artistic life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These projects highlight his interest in theatre, not only as a playwright but also as someone attentive to the design of theatrical spaces and their aesthetic qualities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Rococo style and the debate with Andrea Memmo<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stylistically, Zaguri rejected Neoclassicism, which was rapidly gaining ground at the time, favouring instead the more fluid, elegant and decorative Rococo style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This preference also brought him into a lively debate with Andrea Memmo, a friend of Casanova and a leading figure in Venetian reformist circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their disagreement reflected the aesthetic tensions of the period: on the one hand, the emerging preference for rationality, restraint and classical simplicity; on the other, the freer, more playful and decorative style of the Rococo, which Zaguri continued to champion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pietro Zaguri\u2019s literary and architectural works: poems, comedies, the fa\u00e7ade of San Maurizio, projects for La Fenice, and his Rococo taste.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2663,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"autore-journal":[135],"categoria-journal":[136],"tag-journal":[181,182,180,171],"class_list":["post-2662","journal","type-journal","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","autore-journal-sabine-herrmann","categoria-journal-characters-of-the-venetian-eighteenth-century","tag-journal-eighteenth-century-theater","tag-journal-rococo","tag-journal-venetian-architecture","tag-journal-zaguri"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pietro Zaguri author and architect: art, poetry and projects in eighteenth-century Venice | Casanova Official Museum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The works of Pietro Zaguri: poems, plays, the facade of San Maurizio, designs for La Fenice and his Rococo taste.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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