Press & Guestbook: detail

November 12 2006

"Lonely Planet Guide 2007 A truly magical stay."

REVIEW This is a magical opportunity to stay in a genuine Venetian palazzo. Sometimes called 'della Palazzo Abadessa' (Palace of the Mother Superior), the owner Maria Luisa is a graceful fairy godmother placing fresh flowers in rooms, offering cake when she suspects you're hungry and catering to your wishes - sometimes before you've voiced them.

As you enter the grand hall with stained-glass windows and fragments of 16th-century frescoes, you feel privileged to be staying in such a historic, beautiful place. In the breakfast room with its 16th-century Sansovino timber ceiling, a rare internal well reveals that the palace was built in 1540. Up the sweeping staircase shaped like arms embracing (initially banned for being too modern before Palladio approved its construction) are the sumptuous rooms with handmade silk damask walls, antique furniture, floors twinkling with lapis lazuli and mother of pearl, and positively soporific beds. The salon is an opulent feast of 18th-century trompe l'oeil and 16th-century paintings (including four from the Tintoretto school) illuminated by a vast chandelier.

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