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The Venice Venice Hotel

Sleep with the greats

Beholding the Rialto Bridge

Giants of the art world know, to grab attention and inspire you have to radicalise the form. And, this is what the Venice Venice Hotel – a hideaway hung with Fluxus and Arte Povera works, plus pieces by global greats (Bruce Nauman, Arnulf Rainer, Hanne Darboven) – is doing with style. It’s set in the Grand Canal’s oldest palazzo (the 13th-century Ca' da Mosto) – and overlooks the Rialto Bridge – but the owners, founders of brand Golden Goose, have brought in shiny new concepts and captivating 20th-century artworks it’s a privilege to slumber by, making something wholly modern. Take ciccheti and cocktails in the market-style dining sotoportego gallery (a covered passageway), buy fine crafts in the boutique, book the private roof terrace for city-wide views, and ponder the big ideas. When it comes to shaking up hotels, our gaze is firmly on this very nice, very nice stay. 

Planes

Venice’s Marco Polo airport is the closest, a 25-minute drive from the city. But… who wants to take the dowdy Strada Regionale (which only goes as far as Piazzale Roma, from which you’ll have to make your own way to the hotel), when you could arrive as people have for centuries, floating over in a vaporetto to get the big reveal as you turn into the Grand Canal – it’s really the only way to arrive.

Trains

Believe it or not, Venice has a train station, just a 20-minute walk or 10-minute float down the canal from the hotel. Santa Lucia is surprisingly well-connected too, with direct routes to Rome, Milan, Florence and more in just a few hours.

Automobiles

Ha, no. With its teeny-tiny alleyways and enthusiastic crowds of tourists there’s really no room to manoeuvre a vehicle through Venice. But, the determined can drive over to the city then park their car in Piazzale Roma before moving to foot or boat. The hotel can help to reserve parking.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

The Venice Venice Hotel has somehow found itself in the right place in all of the right times (from the Byzantine era through to today) – and that place is opposite the Rialto Market, along the Grand Canal. This means you can be gaily selfie-ing away on the Rialto Bridge in less than five minutes, or seamlessly slipping into a gondola and admiring the reliquaries in St Mark’s Basilica before bellinis at Florians in 10 minutes. While at St Mark’s piazza, climb the Campanile for city-spanning views, drop in at doge-den Palazzo Ducale (passing over the Bridge of Sighs), admire the Torre dell'Orologio’s spectacular edifice, and parse the antiquities of Museo Correr. Day trip to Murano for glassware (and to try your hand at blowing) and Burano for a rainbow backdrop of merrily painted houses; then wend through tiny alleyways to seek out hip handicrafts at ateliers such as Antonia Miletto Gioielli (for bizarrely brilliant bijouterie), Gianni Basso Stampatore (for elegant letterpress stationery), or Declare (for bold modern leather pieces). Curiosities abound: bath tubs and boats full of books in the – sometimes flooded – Libreria Acqua Alta, cursed Ca’ Dario palace, Santa Maria e San Donato church’s ‘dragon’ bones, the lavishly dressed San Nicolò dei Mendicoli from Don’t Look Now… But, sleeping in Fluxus and Arte Povera-themed rooms, next to a genuine Joseph Beuys or Bruce Naumann will lead you down an aesthetically pleasing path through the city’s many many galleries. Find modern masterpieces at the Ca' Pesaro International Gallery, Fondazione Prada or the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (where the art-collecting heiress is also buried with her pets; seek out Bellinis, Tiepolos, Tintorettos and Titian’s luminous Assumption of the Virgin in grand churches and basilicas; and try to time your stay in line with the Biennale, when the halls of the Arsenale and Giardini park are installed with intriguing works.

The Venice Venice Hotel

Адрес

Cannaregio 5631, Venice, Veneto, 30121