Italy: Venice: Where to Stay: Luxury: Ca’ Sagredo Hotel

Ca’ Sagredo Hotel

This luxury palazzo hotel, which opened in 2008, boasts so many works of priceless art that some guide books list it as a museum. And if they are not too busy, the lovely staff will lead interested visitors to view the grand 18th-century staircase, created by Venetian architect Andrea Tirali and with stunning frescoes by Pietro Longhi, and show them the first-story salon adorned in detailed stucco work and large canvases by Andrea Urbani. Of course, if you stay at this stunning forty-two-room hotel, you can have afternoon tea within this backdrop, as well as find yourself in your own private room clad in centuries-old frescoes and art work.

Literally next door to the Ca d’Oro museum, the Ca’ Sagredo faces the Grand Canal and is a masterpiece of a renovation (which may be why it has already become the place for foreigners who have bought their own palazzos or piano nobile apartments to stay while doing their renovation work). The building dates from the 15th century and was enhanced through the centuries by many great artists. Antiques and the finest silks adorn the suites. The grandness of the place makes a stay here feel like an overnight in a museum, which will thrill some and leave others a bit cold. The hotel’s location near the Rialto Market at the top of the Grand Canal is a bit removed from the restaurants, shops and museums of San Marco and the Accademia. L’Alcova restaurant, on a lovely little terrace has an exclusive location (it’s the only restaurant terrace on this stretch of the Grand Canal), and the food gets good reviews from locals.