Orient Express Venezia – Venice, Italy
A Fifteenth-Century Palazzo Reborn with Theatrical Venetian Grandeur
Why DNA Hotels Loves It
● Palazzo Donà Giovannelli restored over nearly a decade with exceptional attention to frescoes, stonework, gilding, timber, and historic craftsmanship.
● Interiors by Aline Asmar d’Amman that place contemporary design in confident dialogue with six centuries of Venetian architecture.
● A rare walled garden, remarkable canal-side arrival, and richly layered public rooms that make the hotel feel like a living cultural salon.
A Palazzo on the Water
Arriving by boat is the only fitting introduction. Beyond the blush-pink façade of Palazzo Donà Giovannelli lies a sequence of courtyards, frescoed salons, carved timber, and Murano glass. Built in 1436 and later enriched with neo-Gothic interventions by Giovanni Battista Meduna, the palace has passed through noble families, hosted cultural gatherings, and accumulated architectural layers spanning centuries. The restoration was immense. Its effect feels effortless.
History Reimagined, Not Replicated
Lebanese architect and designer Aline Asmar d’Amman resisted turning the palazzo into a museum. Original frescoes and time-worn stone meet mirrored surfaces, moiré silk, embossed leather, sculptural furniture, and precious natural materials. Her palette draws on Venice’s “lost colours”: reds, ochres, blues, and greens softened over time by salt, light, and water. The Salone Vittoria glows in sorbet tones, while the Sala della Cultura is crowned by an extraordinary lapis lazuli ceiling. Old and new do not merely coexist. They heighten one another.
Rooms Shaped by Centuries
The hotel offers 47 guestrooms, suites, and apartments, each influenced by the irregular architecture and decorative history of the palazzo. The six Signature Suites are the most remarkable, with nineteenth-century frescoes, mythical winged figures, monumental marble fireplaces, gilded detailing, and tall windows overlooking the canals. The Cherubini Suite introduces a 1958 Carlo Scarpa chandelier and vintage Murano chess table, weaving modern Venetian design into the older fabric. Elsewhere, pale timber, coffee tones, and fretwork inspired by the Ca’ d’Oro create quieter, more restrained interiors. The palace remains the protagonist.
Venetian Dining with a Wider View
Three-Michelin-starred chef Heinz Beck leads the culinary programme. Heinz Beck Venezia occupies the restored orangerie and brings a precise, ingredient-led approach to produce from the lagoon. La Casati offers a more relaxed interpretation of Venetian cooking, inspired by the extravagant figure of Marchesa Luisa Casati, while the Wagon Bar introduces Art Deco glamour and subtle references to the golden age of rail travel. The mood is theatrical. Never nostalgic.
A Secret World in Cannaregio
Behind the palazzo lies one of the hotel’s rarest features: a private walled garden with fountains, antique gates, and lantern-lit pathways. The spa draws on Roman, Venetian, and Ottoman bathing traditions, while Cannaregio itself offers a more lived-in version of Venice. The Jewish Ghetto, Madonna dell’Orto, local bars, and residential canals sit close by, far from the polished theatre of San Marco.
Why It Works
Orient Express Venezia succeeds because it allows Venice’s contradictions to remain intact. Aline Asmar d’Amman’s design embraces grandeur and decay, memory and invention, theatricality and restraint. Palazzo Donà Giovannelli has not been frozen in time, but given a new life—one where six centuries of Venetian craft continue to evolve.
