Baldassarre Longhena designed the palace for the wealthy Pesaro family, and work began in 1659 on the landward side. Longhena died about three years after the facade reached the second floor in 1679. Gian Antonio Gaspari completed it in 1710 according to the original project.
The article calls the style Baroque, with Sansovinian classicism an influence, since the double-loggia effect reinterprets a motif of Jacopo Sansovino. The marble facade has a rusticated basement, a double order of colossal columns and colonnettes, and arch-headed windows. A monumental well stands in the courtyard.
Duchess Felicita Bevilacqua La Masa bequeathed it to the city in 1898, and it is now an art museum of 19th and 20th century works. The upper floor holds the Oriental Art Museum, with about 30,000 objects.
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