Nolinski Venezia

Nolinski Venezia is a clever choice if you want Venice at full volume, but your hotel slightly lower. It sits on Calle Larga XXII Marzo, the elegant shopping street between San Marco and La Fenice, in the former Chamber of Commerce. The building has the proper Venetian confidence: a warm rust façade, carved stone, maritime creatures and chimera looking down as if they have seen every possible suitcase roll past.

Inside, Evok brings the Parisian polish it is known for at Brach, Sinner, Cour des Vosges and the original Nolinski, but the hotel never feels imported whole. Venetian glass chandeliers, marmorino, terrazzo, pale rooms, deep red velvet, brass taps and black lacquer give it a rhythm of old Venice and modern manners. It avoids the grand palazzo performance, which is a relief. The 43 rooms feel calm and adult, with high ceilings, soft light and bathrooms designed by someone who understands that a tap can have stage presence.

The room you will talk about is the Library Bar. It has shelves of books, a grand piano, low velvet seating and an underwater ceiling fresco by Simon Buret, also known from the French duo AaRON. The nod to Venice’s printing past is a clever one in a city that helped turn books into objects of desire. Breakfast comes with silver, fruit, pastries and the quiet pleasure of being spoiled before the first espresso has done its work. Zeffirino, founded in Genoa in 1939, adds a Ligurian accent to the food. Nolinski is not the hotel for Grand Canal daydreamers. It is for people who like Venice central, stylish, cultured and just louche enough after dark.