The Austrians were responsible for first coming up with the idea in 1815 to collect all that remained of the Venetian fleet and create a naval history museum.

The first items were a series of ship models from the 17th Century held in the Arsenale, which were soon joined by naval trophies and curios. In 1958 the collection was moved to an sixteenth-century old granary in Campo San Biagio. The museum traces the Venice and Italy’s maritime history from its origins to the present day.

The museum covers a huge area: four storeys and thirty rooms. It contains sketches of famous old galleys, various models of maritime weapons, a rich collection of Chinese fishing junks and a copy of the Bucentaur. There are also models of old Venetian vessels, French and Austrian ships from the 19th Century built in the Arsenale and models of ships and submarines from the Second World War.
The first floor of the museum is dedicated to Angelo Emo, the last admiral of the Venetian Republic: it contains a marble funereal monument sculpted for him by Antonio Canova.

1800 - 2000 - CASTELLO - rev. 0.1.6