Like many of the palazzi in the city, Orient Express Venezia has two entrances: one on the street, one on the water. The latter is the only way to do it. As your boat glides through Cannaregio’s canals, medieval façades rise straight from the water, their reflections broken by the steady choreography of gondolas and vaporetti. A doorman appears at the blush-pink façade of Palazzo Donà Giovannelli, home of the hotel, opening a portal into a world of frescoed ceilings, ornate stucco and Murano chandeliers.
(Image credit: Giulio Ghirardi)
Wallpaper* checks into Orient Express Venezia, Venice
What’s on your doorstep?
Cannaregio isn’t the Venice of postcards. It lacks the grandeur of San Marco and, yes, there’s a Claire’s Accessories around the corner. This is a neighbourhood where Venetians actually live – where laundry hangs over the canals. It’s home to the Jewish Ghetto, founded in 1516, the Gothic church of Madonna dell’Orto. But besides, when the address in question is the 15th-century Palazzo Donà Giovannelli, quibbling over postcode hardly feels apposite.
The lobby at Orient Express Venezia
(Image credit: Giulio Ghirardi)
Who is behind the design?
Built in 1436 during the height of the Venetian Republic, the palazzo passed through some of Venice‘s great noble families before becoming one of its leading cultural salons. In the mid-19th century, architect Giovanni Battista Meduna introduced the neo-Gothic interiors – the octagonal staircase and the lavish reception rooms are some of the palace’s most breathtaking features.
‘The restoration was a labour of love requiring rare interventions, from drying the palazzo’s foundations and building a dam around the façade walls, to the removal and treatment of each stone on the walls and floors. Over nearly a decade, hundreds of artisans worked across fresco restoration, sculpture, gilding and woodwork,’ explains Lebanese architect and designer Aline Asmar d’Amman, who is behind the latest chapter of the building, it’s transformation into Orient Express Venezia.
(Image credit: Giulio Ghirardi)
(Image credit: Giulio Ghirardi)
She resisted turning the hotel into a museum piece: original frescoes meet mirrored walls, and silk, velvet and embossed leather run into patinated plaster, carved timber and time-worn stone. ‘Beyond a monument to history, I see Orient Express Venezia as a living story, where the past shapes the future,’ she says. ‘It was important for me to honour the palazzo’s history while reimagining it for the present.’
The palette is clever. Asmar d’Amman drew on Venice’s ‘lost colours’ – the rich reds, ochres, blues and greens that once animated the city before centuries of salt air and sunlight softened them to powdery hues. The designer embraces the spectrum that remains: baby tones woven through upholstery, curtains and finishes. This finds its fullest expression in the public rooms – the sorbet-hued Salone Vittoria and the Sala della Cultura, crowned by a lapis lazuli ceiling, are the undeniable stars of the renovation.
(Image credit: Giulio Ghirardi)
The room to book
They’re rivalled only by the six Signature Suites, the largest of which span 145 square metres and incorporate incredible original details, including 19th-century frescoes depicting mythical winged figures and vast marble fireplaces. Tall windows frame canal views, while antique-inspired furnishings and rich textiles capture the essence of Palazzo Donà Giovannelli at its most romantic. ‘I wanted guests to be touched by the grace of [the palazzo’s] undying youth, while also experiencing a sense of cinematic progression,’ says Asmar d’Amman. ‘It becomes a great discovery, where one moves through layers of history.’
The Colori Persi (‘Lost Colours’) Suite
(Image credit: Giulio Ghirardi)
‘I love the act of re-using what once belonged to a glorious past, with an infinite interplay between old soul and contemporary interior architecture,’ she continues. The Cherubini Suite, for example, is home to a 1958 Carlo Scarpa chandelier as well as a vintage Murano chess table, weaving together distinct threads of Venice’s architectural and artisanal heritage.
The guestrooms, by comparison, dial things down. Finished in coffee tones, pale timber and fretwork inspired by the Ca’ d’Oro, the Grand Canal palace also designed by Meduna, they’re elegant, if a little overshadowed by the spectacle outside.
(Image credit: Giulio Ghirardi)
Staying for drinks and dinner?
Dining is split between relaxed Venetian cooking at all-day La Casati and the more ambitious Heinz Beck Venezia. La Casati takes inspiration from the persona of Marchesa Luisa Casati, who would famously take her pet leopard for walks in Piazza San Marco, serving seasonal dishes from cicchetti to marinated beef with artichokes and creamed cod ravioli.
(Image credit: Giulio Ghirardi)
At Heinz Beck Venezia, the three-Michelin-starred chef brings his ingredient-led approach to lagoon produce in the palace’s restored orangerie. Before or after dinner, cocktails are served at Wagon Bar, an art deco space that subtly references the golden age of rail travel in a nod to the Orient Express name. ‘A loving tension reigns between the Orient Express world, marked by the glamour of the 1930s, and a reinterpretation of Venetian living. It embraces the duality of legacy and reinvention,’ says Asmar d’Amman.
Where to switch off
Perhaps the greatest luxury at Orient Express Venezia is its rare tranquillity in the city’s tourist centre. The hotel’s walled garden – almost unheard of in this part of Venice – is a pocket of calm restored with fountains, antique gates and lantern-lit pathways.
The spa follows the same philosophy, borrowing from Roman, Venetian and Ottoman bathing traditions to create a lagoon-inspired sanctuary.
The verdict
Orient Express Venezia’s location should not be mistaken for compromise – few addresses in the city can rival Palazzo Donà Giovannelli’s scale and atmosphere. The romance of Venice is palpable here, with contemporary interventions executed so deftly that you barely notice them.
The Orient Express Suite living room
(Image credit: Giulio Ghirardi)
