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At the age of 13, in 1574, Santorio, together with his brother Isidoro, left for Venice to stay with his father’s noble friends, the Morosini, where he studied alongside Andrea, Nicolò, and Paolo Morosini. Andrea Morosini, who later became the official Venetian historiographer (as the author of the Historia Veneta), organized, soon after returning to Venice from his studies in Padua in 1578, the so-called “Morosini ridotto” together with his brother Paolo in the family residence (today Palazzo Cavalli). For some two decades, it was an important center of philosophical, mathematical, literary, and political debates. Many key representatives of the Venetian patriciate and of the cultural and scientific world participated, among them Leonardo Donà, Nicolò Contarini, and Paolo Sarpi. The ridotto was also attended by Galileo Galilei, while he was teaching in Padua, and by Giordano Bruno during his stay in Venice, before he was arrested by the Inquisition and handed over to Rome. It was here, too, that Santorio became acquainted with the leading intellectuals and influential figures of his time.
Palazzo Cavalli is located right on the Grand Canal. Built in the 16th century and later remodeled several times, it is distinguished by its two main floors (piano nobile), visible on the exterior façade with a row of round-arched windows with balustrades, flanked on each side by three single-light windows with parapets. Today the building also houses a wedding hall.
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