Palazzo Giovanelli ★★★★S

As a guest at the Palazzo Giovanelli, aside from losing yourself in the small twisting streets of Venice, you can take a water taxi around town, before sitting down to sip on a real Italian cappuccino in St Mark’s Square at the famous Florian Café. Then, you can visit the museums – including the unmissable Francois Pinault Foundation and the Peggy Guggenheim Foundation – before experiencing a luxury sleep in a genuine, VeryChic Venetian Palace.

As you arrive, pause for a moment to take in the real Venetian palace and its authentic façade, a gentle ochre wearing the tarnish of time like jewels. The Foscarini Giovanelli palace is a historic building from the 16th Century, and over the centuries it has opened its doors to the family of Mozart and King Frederick Christian IV of Denmark amongst others, before becoming the family seat of the Foscarini family in the 18th Century. Today, it blends contemporary detail with stylings of yesteryear Venice, all with the best possible taste and elegance: light fittings of Murano glass, a marble staircase, paintings by the great masters, frescoes by Zelotti…

Dipping its toes in the Grand Canal, the hotel sits in Venice’s historic quarter, whilst still maintaining a circumspect distance from the hullaballoo that tourists often bring. Indeed, the hotel finds itself in a calm and romantic location steeped in luxury and fitted out with relaxation in mind. From the road, access is through a shady and tranquil garden, while from the water the hotel has its own private jetty. It’s from this jetty that you can flag down a water taxi and putter off to see the city’s famous attractions. But, for a change, you can also explore on foot, crossing the Rialto Bridge or St Mark’s Square, on the same side of the Grand Canal.

And when you’re weary from rambling through the city’s weaving streets, you can always return to the sedate beauty of the Palazzo Giovanelli, to flop onto your richly dressed bed or to pamper yourself with exclusive courtesy toiletries in your gilded marble bathroom. Here you can reflect on the day gone by and those ahead, and wonder, what would Lord Byron think of this?