The Royal Gardens of Venice came into being as part of the Napoleonic program to rebuild the area around Saint Mark’s Square. The decision to use the Procuratie Nuove building to house the Royal Palace was formalized in Bonaparte’s decree of January 11, 1807.

Prior to that, starting in the 14th century, the area where the Royal Gardens are now located was occupied by an imposing complex of four four-storey buildings used as granary stores, and from the end of the 15th century on, the seat of the new magistracy, the Provveditori alla Sanità, was also located in the building.

1806
Architect Giovanni Antonio Antolini presented the first plans for the royal residence: a new building overlooking the Bacino of Saint Mark’s (which was never built) and a garden in the space between the Procuratie and the lagoon. Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais changed Antolini's approach by opting for the construction of a new monumental building.

1810
The architect Giuseppe Maria Soli began the first work on the garden with the construction of a stone balustrade and a wooden bridge to allow access from the Palace.

1814
The architect Lorenzo Santi became director of works for the construction of the Royal Palace.
It was Santi who determined the garden’s definitive form, with a tree-lined avenue overlooking the Bacino of Saint Marks, geometric “Italian-style” parterres and two “English-style” groves at its end, whose trees, flowering plants and potted citrus fruits came from the Royal Park in Stra.

1815
The garden was isolated from the city with the demolition of the bridges over the Rio della Luna, thus severing the connection with Calle Vallaresso, while direct access from the Palace with a drawbridge over a small interior canal continued. The entire area was enclosed by a stone balustrade.

1816
A majestic iron gate made by blacksmiths Pietro Acerboni and Daniele Pellanda was placed between the garden and the canal bank leading to Piazzetta di San Marco.

1815 - 1817
A greenhouse was constructed flanking Ponte della Zecca and, as the closing point of the perspective of the new avenue, the Kaffeehaus, a neoclassical pavilion, was built. Its elaborate sculptural decorations were completed in 1819.

1857
Emperor Franz Joseph, in an attempt to win back support from the city’s populace after the harsh repressive measures that had followed the revolutions of 1848-49, allowed the public to walk along the path flanking the Bacino of Saint Mark’s.

The iron and cast-iron pergola, which crosses the garden longitudinally, was also built at this time, to provide a shady, private promenade, replacing the tree-lined avenue along the Bacino of Saint Mark’s. Lorenzo Santi's Pavilion, used until then in summer as a recreation area for the Court and in winter as a greenhouse, was opened to the public as a coffee shop.

1861
Empress Sissi revoked public access to the gardens.

1866
King Vittorio Emanuele II reopened the Royal Gardens to the public.

23 dicembre 1920
The Royal Gardens along with other properties ceded by the Crown to the State Property Office, were entrusted to the City of Venice and opened in their entirety to the public.

1939 - 1940
The garden’s layout once more became geometrical with ample use of dwarf box and privet, in keeping with the fascist regime’s cultural policy of affirming the superiority of the “Italian-style garden”.

Lorenzo Santi’s Pavilion, which since the late nineteenth century had ceased to be used as a Kaffeehaus, served for over sixty years as the Headquarters of the Bucintoro Rowing Club. In 1962 it became the Air Terminal of the city’s new airport and subsequently was an information point of the municipal tourist office.

23 dicembre 2014
The State Property Office entrusted the management of the Royal Gardens to Venice Gardens Foundation so that it would restore them and be responsible for their care and conservation in the years to come.

17 dicembre 2019
The restored Royal Gardens were reopened to the public.