"Why book? Because this fresh, modern take on the Venetian five-star hotel—brilliantly placed for the Art and Architecture Biennales—also has plenty of local character. Set the scene How do you establish an edge over your rivals in an increasingly crowded Venetian luxury hotel scene? New Italian hospitality brand VRetreats’s answer was to call in Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola to renovate what must have been a tough-to-convert building. With origins stretching back to the 13th century, this massive four-square structure on the lagoon-facing Riva promenade near the Arsenale had been variously a pilgrim’s hospice, women’s refuge, and old people’s home over the years. Urquiola wanted to honor, she says, “the human stories of a place that has always been full of life”, but bring this up to date “without doing the usual ‘Venetian luxury’ thing”. The result is as much house as hotel—its intimate charm perhaps best summed up in a suavely stylish Reading Room that, unlike many hotel “libraries,” actually makes you want to sink into an armchair and open a book. At the same time, what was special about the place has been preserved: a secluded inner courtyard, a hidden garden which has become a herb and vegetable plot, and two traditional altana raised wooden roof terraces. Both its chic retro-modern design and its location close by the twin venues of the city’s Art and Architecture Biennales are persuasive baits for the kind of artsy global set that Ca’ di Dio has already begun to attract. The backstory In Italy, travel company Alpitour is a byword for seaside package holidays. Its hospitality wing VOIHotels, which manages 21 Italian and overseas beach resorts, launched boutique label VRetreats in 2021 to move out of that comfort zone and into a new market: upmarket mid-sized hotels converted from historic properties in Italian art cities. All of which is to say that so far the brand is too young and untried to attract a loyal clientele—but Ca’ di Dio is clearly making a pitch for young design-conscious international travelers. The rooms Anonymous corridors that seem to go on forever are Ca’ di Dio’s least stylish element, but the ambience is more welcoming once inside your chosen nest. There’s a common design thread running through all 66 rooms, with lots of warm wood, bathroom fittings in Rosso di Verona marble, convex mirrors that hang on walls clothed in shimmery lagoon-green fabric, and specially-commissioned Murano lamps with a vaguely Art Deco feel. The overall sensation, even in the smallest Deluxe, is that you’ve entered not a hotel room but a chic Venetian apartment. Only 13 rooms have frontal lagoon views, but in our books the best view is the 360-degree sweep over rooftops, bell towers, and water that you enjoy from the private wooden roof terraces of the two Altana Suites. Food and drink Strollers and joggers on the wide pedestrian thoroughfare known as the Riva, a bustle of boats, Palladio’s oh-so-elegant church of San Giorgio across the water—there’s plenty to distract diners on the outside tables of the hotel’s Vero restaurant. But we actually prefer the inner view, in an intimate, clubbish dining room that puts a decidedly Venetian spin on Italian mid-century modern design. Chef Raimondo Squeo disrupts the local tradition with influences from his native Puglia and elsewhere (as in the cheeky but convincing main course, pairing of the very Venetian monkfish with the very Roman amatriciana sauce). Spilling out onto the inner courtyard, Essentia is the hotel’s more casual guests-only, all-day dining space, while Alchemia feels like a vintage 1960s New York hotel bar transported to the lagoon. Fittingly, head barman Diego Filipponi (who used to work at historic Caffè Lavena in Piazza San Marco) is a classic cocktail ace. The spa The hotel’s PURA spa uses products developed by Venetian fragrance and skincare brand, The Merchant of Venice, that channel the former seapower’s trading links with Constantinople and eastern Asia, among them Chinese tea and spice mixes. There’s also a Goldfinger-like anti-aging treatment involving the application of sheets of 24k gold leaf provided by one of the last remaining Venetian artisans to specialize in the ancient craft of hand-beaten gold and silver. The neighborhood As you walk east along the wide Riva promenade from St Mark’s, the lagoon view just gets bigger and bigger. Ca’ di Dio occupies a long swathe of Riva frontage right by the Arsenale waterbus stop. But it’s what’s behind the hotel that is really worth exploring. One of Venice’s most fascinating and unspoiled neighborhoods, Eastern Castello is a maze of lanes studded with good places to eat (Al Covo, Corte Sconta, CoVino), drink (don’t miss the buzzing spritz scene at the Osteria alla Rampa), and shop (like Banco Lotto no. 10, with quirky women’s fashions made in a workshop that operates inside the city’s female penitentiary). And the venues of the Art and Architecture Biennales—the Giardini park and former Arsenale naval shipyard—are both a short stroll away. The service Formerly a chapel, the impressive lobby looks like the lounge of a well-to-do socialite Venetian art collector. You actively need to search for the reception desk, which turns out to be little more than a stand-up booth in one corner. This is very much in the spirit of a place where the friendly, multi-tasking staff seem to float around. Among the experiences they can make happen, one of the most worthwhile is a private visit to LP, the Murano factory that made many of the glass lamps and fixtures that Urquiola commissioned for the hotel. Eco effort Better than many in Venice: Guests are offered filtered tap water, either still or sparkling, rather than resource-guzzling bottled mineral water; and the in-house boutique has several items created from materials upcycled during renovation, including notebooks bound in wallpaper that (to misquote Oscar Wilde) just had to go. Accessibility As well as wheelchair accessible rooms, Ca’ di Dio has its own porta d’acqua or water entrance, making access direct from a water taxi possible for those with limited mobility. Anything left to mention? They have their own gin here? Of course they do. With its salty lagoon botanicals, Gin al Sale was created exclusively for Ca’ di Dio by Florian Dabanser from Dolomites distillery, Zu Plun. Finally, in 100 words or less, what makes this hotel worthy of Hot List? Few Venetian luxury hotels dare to challenge the antique-chandeliers-and-velvet look that is the city’s safe default option. Urquiola’s stylish vision for Ca’ di Dio rips up that rulebook while keeping things warm and local. And it does so in a part of town—near the Art and Architecture Biennale venues—that until now has never had a kip of this caliber. If the hotel’s VERO restaurant lives up to its initial promise, it will be another great addition to the city’s suddenly vibrant dining scene." - Lee Marshall
