The wedding of the most wanted Hollywood bachelor George Clooney with his human rights lawyer girlfriend Amal Alamuddin grabbed headlines last weekend around the world, but it their choice of venue that had Greeks proud.
The wedding was hosted in Venice, Italy but the was the luxurious Venetian palace that Clooney and Alamuddin chose to celebrate their big day, actually belonged to a noble family of Greek origin.
The construction of the palace, built in 1550 by the family of wealthy merchants and seamen of ‘Cochinna’, was assigned to the architect Gian Giacomo de Grigi. Nicolas Papadopoulos (Niccolò Papadopoli), who in 1905 changed his surname to Papadopoli Aldobrandini, was an Italian politician.
He came from an aristocratic family of Greek origin and in 1905 got permission to add his name to the last name of his wife, Maddalena Aldobrandini, who was the daughter of a wealthy family of intellectuals.
The couple then bought the famous palace, which became known as Palazzo Papadopoli.
From its construction until 1837, when it passed to the Papadopoli family, the palace changed several owners who have created impressive libraries and gathered priceless art treasures from across the world.
Papadopoulos made renovations and bought two adjacent buildings to create gardens, which was unusual for those times.
The Palazzo Papadopoli was one of the first buildings of Venice that had electricity and telephone connection but was also known for its legendary parties.
In 1922, the Palazzo passed to Papadopoulos’ heirs, the noble family Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga. The top floor was given to the Institute of Marine Sciences from the 1980s to 2005.
In 2007, it was sold to a Swiss company and is now owned by the luxury hotel chain ‘Aman’.
Source: Greek Reporter