portego

See also: pòrtego

English

The portego of Palazzo Morosini Sagredo terminates with the monumental staircase designed by Andrea Tirali.

Etymology

From Venetian pòrtego. Doublet of porch, portico, and porticus.

Noun

portego (plural portegos)

1. A characteristic compositional element of the Venetian civil buildings built during the years of the Republic of Venice, similar to a reception hall but having peculiar features.
   • 1895, [Theodor] Gsell-Fels, translated by J. Albert Swallow, Venice (Bruckmann’s Illustrated Guides; 2–5), Munich: A. Bruckmann, […], page 12:

     The arrangement of the middle windows is a transferring, as it were, of the mediæval portegos into the artistic conditions of the Renaissance.

   • 1998, Jonathan Buckley, Hilary Robinson, The Rough Guide to Venice, Rough Guides, →ISBN, page 114:

     In the portego of the second floor are the only two canal views by Canaletto on show in public galleries in Venice.

   • 2002, Paula Weideger, Venetian Dreaming, New York, N.Y.: Washington Square Press, Atria Books, →ISBN, page 146:

     Gilded console tables were set against the long, side walls of the portego.

Further reading

• portego on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Italian

Etymology

From Venetian pòrtego. Doublet of portico.

Noun

portego m (plural porteghi)

1. (Venice) porch; entrance hall

Derived terms

• sotoportego