Orient Express Venezia

There are three ways into Palazzo Donà Giovannelli. The grand one is by boat, through a Gothic water gate. The quiet one is through the garden from Santa Fosca. The third is off Strada Nova, Cannaregio's busy shopping street, by a gate and a small courtyard that leave the shoppers outside. The palazzo has stood where the Rio di Noale meets the Rio di Santa Fosca since 1436, and became a hotel, Orient Express Venezia, only in 2026. Giovanni Battista Meduna built its octagonal staircase while he was restoring the Ca' d'Oro, five minutes' walk away, which kept the commute short. Aline Asmar d'Amman's restoration took eight years: in the Sala della Musica, every ceiling flower came down, was mended and went back up.

Recommended for couples who would rather come home to a residential sestiere than to San Marco: rooms and junior suites sleep two, suites three, and nothing is laid on for children. Ask for La Minerva. At 64 square metres it is the smallest signature suite, but it has the corner over both canals, Costantino Cedini's fresco of 1790 overhead and a corner window facing the bed. La Casati cooks Venetian dishes all day and in season sets 70 places in the garden. The Wagon Bar, modelled on an Orient Express lounge car, has a floor patterned on the Ca' d'Oro, so even the bar has borrowed from the neighbours. The Giovannelli princes kept Giorgione's The Tempest here in the 19th century. Since 1932 it has hung in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, 25 minutes' walk away, which is now the distance between these walls and the most famous picture they ever held.