Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti is a palace in Venice, Italy, not far from the Ponte dell'Accademia.
It was erected in 1565. In the nineteenth century it was internally modernised and externally enriched in "Venetian Gothic" style, with rich window framing, by a series of grand owners. The first neo-Gothic improvements were made after 1840, when the young [Archduke Frederick Ferdinand of Austria] (1821-1847) reassembled the property, the Palazzo Cavalli-Gussoni, which had become divided among heirs, and embarked on a complex project intended to give a more prominent Habsburg presence along the Grand Canal, as Austria-Hungary had been awarded the territories of Venice after the Napoleonic Wars. At his premature death, unmarried, in 1847 the palazzo was bought by Henri, comte de Chambord, styled "Henri V" by Bourbon legitimists, who entrusted further restorations to Giambattista Meduna; his portrait on the balcony, with Santa Maria Della Salute in the background, hangs in the Palazzo Ducale, Modena. In 1878 Baron Raimondo Franchetti (1829-1905), who had married Sarah Luisa de Rothschild (1834-1924), daughter of Anselm Salomon Rothschild of the Vienna Rothschilds, bought the palazzo and commissioned further works by architect Camillo Boito, who constructed the grand staircase. In September 1922 it was sold to the Istituto Federale di Credito per il Risorgimento delle Venezie by Franchetti's widow.
Since 1999 it has been the seat of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti and frequently houses cultural events.
