Sailing Into Culture: Casa Sanlorenzo Anchors In Venice

Forbes

21 hours ago

Casa Sanlorenzo Saloon
Sanlorenzo Arts–a creative hub dedicated to the artistic and cultural initiatives of luxury yacht pioneers Sanlorenzo–has been unveiled in Venice during the inaugural Venice Climate Week (3-8 June, 2025), as the lagoon city presents la Biennale di Architettura.
Venice Climate Week is a new Italian event celebrating World Environment Day and World Oceans Day, conceived and directed by Riccardo Luna in collaboration with the Future Food Institute as a week dedicated to climate change, sustainability, and restarting dialogue and exchange among institutions, citizens, businesses, activists, scientists, and artists.
In the heart of Venice—where whispers of history echo along watery corridors, and the light dances off facades steeped in time—a new addition to the city's cultural tapestry has arrived: Casa Sanlorenzo–a new cultural cub conceived by acclaimed Italian yachting company Sanlorenzo–has opened its doors with a subtle launch that respects the city's legacy while gesturing boldly towards a more philanthropic and sustainable future.
Casa Sanlorenzo Exterior
Unveiled during the inaugural Venice Climate Week, with the Biennale di Architettura as its backdrop, Casa Sanlorenzo is not simply a building—it is a philosophy sculpted in stone, glass, and vision. It rises across from the majestic Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, as if in quiet dialogue with the Baroque architectural masterpiece, promising not to compete but to converse.
Sanlorenzo, long revered for crafting luxury yachts that glide elegantly across the water, now extends its creative ambitions onto land. With the opening of the new Casa Sanlorenzo cultural centre, Sanlorenzo pivots from producing exquisite vessels to becoming a vessel itself, one that carries culture, ideas, and transformation.
At the Casa's inauguration, Massimo Perotti, Sanlorenzo's Executive Chairman, gave a welcome speech to guests beneath a pale Venetian sky. Above, a curious duel unfolded: a seagull clashing mid-air with a hovering drone. The spectacle, unintended yet symbolic, brought a moment of reflection—a metaphor for the uneasy embrace between nature and technology. In a city wrestling with the weight of cruise ships and rising tides, one must ask: can innovation coexist with fragility?
And yet, it is precisely this tension that Casa Sanlorenzo seeks to explore, through a Salon-style space where thought, design and art intersect. Casa Sanlorenzo is designed as a visionary arts center and is an extension of the Sanlorenzo Arts project–a creative incubator where nautical production is juxtaposed with art, design and culture in a sustainable framework.
Casa Sanlorenzo Exteriors
Housed within a restored 1940s villa, reimagined by visionary architect Piero Lissoni, Casa Sanlorenzo is both contemporary and eternal. Lissoni–with his studio Lissoni & Partners–updated the space that spans almost 11,000 square feet with a generously sized garden, as well as a private apartment. The garden and gallery space will host exhibitions, shows and talks throughout the year to coincide with major cultural events in Venice such as the art and architecture Biennales.
The Casa is designed to create a living dialogue between eras, aesthetics, and ideas. Here, white walls serve as breath between thoughts, showcasing Sanlorenzo's contemporary art collection, which bridges the radical transformations of post-1965 to the daring expressions of today.
Casa Sanlorenzo Exteriors
Lissoni has not erased the building's soul but coaxed it gently into the present. Brick facades glow with renewed dignity and modernity takes shape in glass staircases and concrete expanses, paired with Portoro marble and Palladian stone. In this fusion, past and future clasp hands. Outside the Casa Sanlorenzo, a contemplative Venetian Garden offers space for contemplation. Extending from the Casa like a whisper across the lagoon, is an architecturally daring new bridge designed by Piero Lissoni in a contemporary style yet with respect for Venetian heritage. A rarity in Venice where historic Renaissance design is King–the new bridge is a contemporary reinterpretation of a Venetian Ponte, constructed from prefabricated metal with a path of Istrian stone.
Piero Lissoni comments: 'This bridge is not simply architecture. It's a symbol. A cultural connector. Indeed, one does not merely walk across—it passes through you, inviting reflection on what it means to move forward while holding memory.'
As part of Venice Climate Week, Casa Sanlorenzo hosts the 'Sanlorenzo Talks', a series of candid conversations about sustainability, design and the ecological imperative of our age. During the talks leading voices from science, industry and the arts gather to explore how creativity can become an engine of change. The message is clear: beauty alone is no longer enough—it must be paired with ethics.
That ethos extends to the jewel of Sanlorenzo's nautical artistry: the newly revealed Almax, a 50-meter superyacht that glides with the conscience of a new era. Sleek and sculptural, Almax's interiors are designed by Lissoni with exteriors by Zuccon International Project. Sanlorenzo's commitment to environmentally friendly yachting is reflected in the Reformer Fuel Cell, powered by green methanol-derived hydrogen to ensure zero emissions during onboard operations.
Inside, Almax evokes a serene New York penthouse adrift at sea: pale wood floors, glass walls, bespoke furnishings, and an almost meditative atmosphere. The Almax exemplifies Sanlorenzo's embrace of art, architecture and design–a philosophy which is mirrored in Casa Sanlorenzo—a celebration of restraint, intention, and aesthetic harmony.
Highlights of Casa Sanlorenzo's art collection include commanding works on the upper floor including a vast map by Arte Povera artist Alighiero Boetti and a slashed red canvas by Lucio Fontana–giants of contemporary Italian art–while the ground floor galleries offer a monochrome meditation by photographer Marco Palmieri, who is taking part in the inaugural Sanlorenzo Talks. Works by German painter Emil Michael Klein are also featured.
Marco Palmieri exhbition at Casa Sanlorenzo, Venezia © Lee Sharrock
In all of this—the yacht, the bridge, the gallery—there is a consistent throughline: a belief that design is not decoration but direction. That architecture can be activism. That art is not passive, but participatory.
Massimo Perotti, Executive Chairman Sanlorenzo said at the launch: 'Our aim with Casa Sanlorenzo is to offer a reference point for initiatives linked to the world of Sanlorenzo Arts, an entity conceived with the goal of celebrating and supporting the union between art, design and culture, where innovation and creativity can flourish without limits. Casa Sanlorenzo becomes a place where one enters to stop, reflect and share. A space of research, where art does not simply adorn, but rather interrogates. Where design does not impress, but guides. Where beauty is never for its own sake, but the bearer of ethics. In an increasingly virtual world, we wanted to invest in presence, in meaningful encounters, and in shared experiences. Because we believe that authenticity requires substance, time, and human connection. And Venice is the perfect place for this project.'
Casa Sanlorenzo
Founded in 1958, the Sanlorenzo shipyard has traveled far from its humble beginnings in Limite sull'Arno. Over decades it has grown and now has six shipyards across Italy. Through its Fondazione Sanlorenzo–founded in 2021–the company extends its hand to Italy's forgotten islands and communities, working to uplift, educate, and connect. Through Sanlorenzo Arts, it fosters the convergence of craftsmanship, culture and technology.
And now, with Casa Sanlorenzo, this commitment takes architectural form. A place where yacht design steps ashore and becomes philosophy. Venice has long been a city of arrivals and departures, a threshold between lands and dreams. Now, with Casa Sanlorenzo, it welcomes a new kind of voyager—not a traveler seeking escape, but one seeking an anchor.
Casa Sanlorenzo is a living organism, one that breathes through its spaces and speaks through its exhibitions. It also feels like Sanlorenzo's version of a love letter to Venice and declaration of its wish to be a custodian of culture by providing a permanent arts space where art, architecture, design, education and sustainability can converge.
Find more information here on the Casa Sanlorenzo talks during Venice Climate Week.
Casa Sanlorenzo Garden