The rain falls calmly, dropping onto the water of the Grand Canal in Venice without leaving a trace or making a sound, while the ancient buildings on both sides, including palaces and churches, ripple away with the boat. As dusk descends over the water city, the lights begin to twinkle in the dim blue, the warm light mingling with the deep blue of the river, casting a dreamlike glow; swaying, until the final mooring...

The new destination upon disembarkation is the Venice Venice Hotel, which opened in 2022, adjacent to the famous Rialto Bridge and the old market.

The hotel was rebuilt from the renowned Palazzo Ca‘da Mosto, emerging with a fresh identity grounded in history, uniquely named to reflect the hotel‘s pride in its architectural heritage and its pioneering stance in the ”Postvenetian” style.

Can a building‘s life be eternal Here lies the answer.

As the oldest structure on the Grand Canal, the predecessor of the VeniceVenice Hotel, the Palazzo Ca‘ da Mosto, was originally built in the 13th century. It is a reflection of the era when Venice was under the influence of the Byzantine Empire and is now one of the city‘s key protected historic structures.

The Palazzo Ca‘ da Mosto was initially owned by the Barocci family, one of the earliest founding families of Venice; later, it was acquired by Marco da Mosto of the Da Mosto family, and since then, the building has borne the family name. Over countless years, the ferry in front of the building became exclusive to the family, even being codified into law.

What made this building particularly famous was its elegance during the 17th to 19th centuries. In these two hundred years, the Palazzo Ca‘ da Mosto transformed into the ”Albergo Leon Bianco”. As the trend of Grand Tour in Europe gradually began, driving numerous wealthy and famous people from Europe to come to Venice to explore history and art and enjoy life, the Leon Bianco Hotel was undoubtedly the center, attracting nobles, politicians and businessmen, writers, poets, and even the Tsar and the Holy Roman Emperor to stay here, leading the trend.

When people think of Venice, the invisible wall of history and tradition seems to confine this ancient city only to the past. However, the hotel aims to look towards the future, pioneering the ”Postvenetian” style, which lays out an avantgarde, confrontational, and constantly changing artistic concept on the basis of traditional Venetian aesthetics, showing more possibilities of Venice.

Upon entering the hotel lobby, a dim space with curved reflecting pools on either side reveals itself, with white marble statues of the Madonna and Child placed symmetrically, and a cast iron grid door resembling a barrier standing not far away, leading to the secondfloor reception area down a steep stone staircase. This space used to be a boat house where boats could dock directly, and the elegant transformation gives guests a ”appetizer” before checkin. On the secondfloor reception wall, a large English paper is framed, with a casual and uneven handwriting reading: ”Art is easy”.

The hotel‘s logo is a black rose dripping with paint, a love and beauty different from tradition but rooted in the past, wandering through the entire hotel. The winding and twisting space layout is derived from ancient architectural forms, with mottled walls reflecting the intermittent lighting, often creating a sense of stepping back in time into a European castle.

On the waterfacing floor, a long, spacious area extends from the canal bank to the hotel backyard, which was presumably once the site of grand balls held by the nobility. Now, the area near the river is the waterfront restaurant, where the reflections play on the columns in the Byzantine style; inside is the indoor dining area, which transforms into a grand banquet with flickering candles or a jazz music performance filling the hall when events are held. Part of it is the Venice M‘Art boutique store, offering goods inspired by the building itself and the bustling market around it.

Each guestroom at the Venice Venice Hotel is unique, thanks to the structure of the ancient house and the decoration by designers and artists.

The ”Venetian Heritage” Suite 51 offers a view of the canal from the window of the main space, with the waterways stretching away on either side, passing numerous buildings, and the Rialto Bridge within sight. An ancient, largescale map of Venice hangs on the wall, and the room‘s walls even retain the remains of frescoes from hundreds of years ago. Avoiding retouching and restoration, the frescoes are only protected with a sufficient layer, those dull or incomplete colors and brushstrokes are exactly the visible and tangible history of Venice.

All furniture and decorations in the suite are custommade, showing off unique designs; the art pieces are from private collections and selections, and many of the rare and hardtofind tools and items in the room can be purchased from the hotel‘s boutique store. Specific suites also come with a Turkish bath and a small gym, which is very comprehensive.

The nearly fourkilometerlong Grand Canal, with its Sshaped route running through the city from north to south, divides the city of Venice into over two thousand waterways, where thousands of years of historical prosperity play out along this major thoroughfare. At the city center, by the canal side, after numerous additions and renovations over the centuries, the Palazzo Ca‘ da Mosto finally transformed into the Venice Venice Hotel in 2022, opening a new chapter in its history.