This is a medieval revelation! Who did discover America before Christopher Columbus? Vikings, of course… But historical documents attest that Zen family, who owns this palazzo, sailed along the North America coast a century before Cristopher Columbus. During the 16th century, the famous cartographer Mercator used the ‘Carta da navegar’ by Zen brothers and later, in the 19th century, the Royal Geographical Society issued a deluxe edition of Zen brothers’ travel journals and their nautical charts. In 1881 Venice municipality applied a marble plaque on one of Zen palazzos announcing:

To
Nicolò and Antonio Zeno
During the 14th century
Wisely brave navigators
of the seas of the North America