Venice Hotels|Venice, Italy

Orient Express Venezia

Name: Orient Express Venezia
Telephone: 39-04-18-85-80-04

A stunning 15th-century Venetian palazzo

VERIFIED LUXURY

Learn How We Inspect

Only the second hotel in the world to bear the name of the heritage train, Orient Express Venezia lives up to the hype. The canal-side facade of its home, the 15th-century noble residence Palazzo Donà Giovannelli, has a pink diamond pattern that looks almost identical to that of the Doge’s Palace, one of Venice’s enduring icons.

This sense of place pervades the property featuring 47 unique rooms. Aline Asmar d’Amman, the designer behind the Eiffel Tower’s restaurant, helmed an eight-year restoration that centered the palazzo’s heritage (frescoes and mosaics, terrazzo floors, Murano chandeliers, sculpture) while making choices that reflect Venice’s unmistakable blend of the avant-garde and the ageless. You barely need to go outside to know where you are — but being right in the heart of Cannaregio, one of the most vibrant of Venice’s six historic districts, means you definitely should.

Our Inspector's Highlights

Chef Heinz Beck oversees all of the luxury hotel’s food and beverage offerings (having also created the menus for the La Dolce Vita Orient Express train). The all-day dining spot La Casati — named for the eccentric 20th-century marchioness, arts patron and prolific Venetian party host Luisa Casati — showcases bright, punchy twists on traditional Venetian cuisine. Fine dining restaurant Heinz Beck Venezia will open later this year in the orangery, while the art deco-inspired Wagon Bar, serves cocktails and cicchetti (Venetian small bites).
The six top-tier Signature Suites are lavish while remaining true to location. A highlight is the Colori Persi Suite, named for the dusty “lost colors” of Venice that are foregrounded in the design (many of which also appear in the original 19th-century fresco above the bed).
Entry- and mid-level rooms contain distinctly local touches like Murano glass elements, intricate ceilings and stucco work, patinated color palettes or Venetian-style terrazzo floors. All come equipped with espresso machines, Dyson hairdryers and bed linens by Rivolta Carmignani, the same brand that supplied the linens on the original Orient Express trains. Bathroom products are by Guerlain.
A showstopper you’ll notice upon check-in is the octagonal neo-gothic staircase, a 19th-century addition by architect Giovanni Battista Meduna (famous for his work on La Fenice, the renowned Venetian opera house). The combination of original statuary in the niches and the stone and glass vault draws your gaze upward.
Common spaces here are anything but “common.” The ground-floor lobby or Corte del Conte (“Count’s Court”) is lined with velvet seating and Fortuny cushions and backdropped on one side by a dramatic Aubusson tapestry. The Piano Nobile (the principal floor) is home to several spectacular salons, including an atmospheric Sala della Musica (music room) with an immersive, operatic soundtrack; the Sala della Cultura, with its lapis lazuli-accented ceiling; and the Salone Vittoria, which once hosted the wedding of Princess Vittoria Farnese and now welcomes guests for breakfast.

Things to Know

The forthcoming spa will feature the made-in-Sicily skincare brand Furtuna, along with a series of rhassoul treatments (steam and mud rituals inspired by ancient Ottoman tradition).
The Venice hotel is about a 12-minute walk from the Rialto Bridge, a 15-minute walk from Santa Lucia railway station and about 20 minutes from St. Mark’s Square.Its street, Strada Nova, is a busy shopping thoroughfare, but the doors don’t open directly into the action; instead, you pass through a gate and small courtyard, creating a sense of seclusion and reflecting the building’s status as a former home.
There’s a secret garden connected to the lobby via the charmingly named Calle Meraviglia or Hall of Wonders (calle is the Venetian term for “street”). This small walkway hosts a rotating showcase of contemporary artworks.
The hotel’s waterside entrance is found at Rio di Noale and Rio de Santa Fosca. Guests arriving by water taxi can step directly off the private dock into the check-in area.

Amenities