Venice - German Commodity Exchange

(Local Name: Fondaco dei Tedeschi) The Fondaco (from the Arabic "funduk" = commodity exchange) dei Tedeschi, The German Commodity Exchange is first recorded in 1228. At that time the "German" merchants also included Poles, Czechs and Hungarians. Today the building contains the main Post Office. When the Fondaco burned down in 1505 the Republic assumed the cost of rebuilding it and entrusted the decoration of the façade (and its vanished frescoes) to Giorgione and Titian.

The fragments of its remaining frescoes can be seen in the Ca' d'Oro. The prime position close to the Rialto and the fact that Venice had paid for rebuilding, underlined the economic advantages which the Republic obtained from this institution. On every purchase and sale - these generally involved considerable sums - a high commission had to be paid to the state of Venice. It was not for nothing that in the 16th and 17th centuries the Fondaco was called "the golden ark of the Senate". The exchange was both a place of business and a refuge for the merchants. They were not permitted to appear alone, nor to conduct any business outside the Fondaco. They were subjected to strict controls, they lived and ate communally (no women were allowed) and they were subjected to Venetian supervision. Publicly the German merchants were presented as a "brotherhood" of the Church of San Bartolomeo which belonged to them. The façade on the Canal Grande is, in accordance with Venetian tradition, in three sections. The middle section is a five-arched "Portico"; above this are the dining-rooms on the corners of the upper floor, topped by an ornamental merlon-like moulding.

The architecture of the building corresponds exactly to the purpose for which it served: 160 rooms are spread over four floors surrounding a courtyard. The shops were in the outer rooms of the ground floor while the other rooms were used for storage. The rooms of the upper floors were living quarters and offices. The Customs post overlooked the canal.