Venetian

Venetian
living gets a contemporary and cosmopolitan twist at
Casa Flora. Discerning travellers seeking
accommodation in The Floating City should opt for a custom-made
stay at Casa Flora where Venetian living gets a contemporary and
cosmopolitan twist courtesy of hoteliers Gioele Romanelli and Diego
Paccagnella.

Located in a 19th-century building in Venice’s
San Marco quarter, the design-led apartment-hotel takes an
artisanal approach to its accommodations. The space is furnished
almost exclusively with Italian materials and detailing – think
doors fashioned from briarwood and mullion windows in the living
room. In theory, the apartment-hotel could be at home anywhere in
the world, but on closer inspection its thoughtful details give its
genesis away.

Artisans that still operate in Venice and the Veneto region make
most of the furniture pieces – visitors enamoured by the collection
can purchase most items to take home. Consider it the savviest
souvenir
shopping you’ve done in years. If Casa Flora proves one thing,
it is that Venice is an unexpectedly contemporary city (and that a
beautifully crafted hotel room can be more affordable than you
might expect).

Bedrooms

While many of Venice’s outputs are flamboyant creations, this
city centres around artisanal production. Blending grandeur with
graft, Casa Flora combines high-ceilinged private rooms with
chicken-wire glass partitions. Interiors blend the past and present
with ease; all three bedrooms lean towards the younger end of the
design timeline. Both the watery-hued Noah room and the
sunshine-yellow Alma are similarly laid out with many objects
mirrored across both boudoirs – take the flora pouf made of
terrazzo textile pattern by Rubelli (whch also supplies the fabrics
for the headboards) as one such example. Noah is the bigger of the
two rooms and can become a triple (with a large pouf doubling as a
bed). Both have oversized bathrooms with hammam, terrazzo double
sinks half of which is taken over by indoor plants. Then there’s
the cardinal pink Elsa Room, which can be used as a third bedroom.
It has a large bed which can turn into a sofa in the middle of the
room and opens out into the main living room via elm wood doors.
Molto luxe.

What’s for breakfast?

Breakfast – a typical continental buffet – is served at nearby
Hotel Flora from 7am to 11am and in the garden from 8am (weather
permitting). Yet with an inviting kitchen in your apartment, eating
in is equally appealing. Gather around the large central
green-stone island (designed by Matteo Ghidoni) and order breakfast
to your room for a surcharge of €15. If you’re a late riser,
arrange for brunch (at least two days in advance) to be prepared by
the pastry chef. Sample local products, sweet and savory flavours
and dine at your leisure, stopping between bites to admire charming
views over the rooftops and neighbouring Venetian terraces. Brunch
is available for €50 per person per order. We suggest rotating
between the two as the hotel breakfast, while a little dated, is
extremely charming. Endearing waiters are busy warding off pigeons,
the patio furniture is salmon-hued and, on occasion, a lethargic
guest will call down from their bedroom window to enquire until
what time breakfast is available.

How about lunch and dinner?

With a large, brushed briarwood dining-room table (made by
Xilia) big enough to seat 12, a dinner party at Casa Flora is
really more of a necessity than a nicety. Don your glad rags (we’re
dressing in Mariano Fortuny-inspired silk and taffeta gowns) and
tuck in. If in-room dining is something you’ve gotten a bit of a
taste for, why not mix things up and rustle up your lunchtime meal
yourselves, sourcing products from the Mercati di Rialto. If you
can’t work the hob (or in truth are just a little lazy) you can
choose from four light lunch options – we’d vouch for the caprese
or bresaola salad.

Is there a bar?

A barman is on call from 3.30pm to 11pm to introduce you to
local wines and international cocktails. Take matters into your own
hands and mix up some bellinis (native to Venice) for a pre-dinner
tipple to challenge the Harry’s Bar original.

Amenities

If you can steal five minutes with the owner, Gioele, your visit
to Venice will be made all the richer; his insider knowledge of the
city is second to none.

Things you should know

Overtourism is a problem for Venice. A stay at Casa Flora helps
to counter this with positive sustainability
initiatives – including minimising plastic usage across the hotel
and using recycled paper products.

Within a short walk you’ll find

Full disclosure: you’ll need a boat to get to Fondazione Berengo arts centre (it’s a short walk to
the pontoon at least) but it’s worth it. Just off Fondamenta dei
Vetrai (Murano’s glassblower street) you’ll find the Berengo
studio. For €7 you can tour the studio and learn about Mr Berengo’s
visionary work collaborating with artists, helping them reimagine
their artworks in glass form. Artists such as Ai Wei Wei, Tracey
Emin and Tony Cragg have worked with Mr Berengo (who was a friend
of Peggy Guggenheim, just by the by). After a walk through the
studio, continue down the canal for a few minutes and pop into the
Glasstress exhibition space where many works by the aforementioned
artists (among others) are on display.