Five-star One MICHELIN Key Cannaregio, Venice
Orient Express Venezia
A Gothic palazzo of 1436 on the Strada Nova, entered by boat through a canal portal or across a garden, with 47 rooms, a ballroom gilded in 1548 and Heinz Beck at the stove.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- MICHELIN
- One Key, 2026
- Rooms
- 47 rooms, suites and apartments
- Opened
- Spring 2026
- Building
- Palazzo Donà Giovannelli, 1436
The hotel
A palazzo that had never been a hotel.
The Palazzo Donà Giovannelli was built in 1436 as a noble house where two canals meet in Cannaregio. In the sixteenth century it passed to the Duke of Urbino, and in 1548 it held the wedding of Vittoria Farnese. Giovanni Battista Meduna later added the octagonal staircase. The palazzo stood empty for years and had never taken paying guests. Its seven Gothic windows still face the canal.
The Paris architect Aline Asmar d'Amman spent eight years on its restoration, working with Italy's heritage authority to shore up the foundations under the water. The pink and white facade, the frescoes by Francesco Hayez and the gilded ballroom all survived. It opened in spring 2026 as the second Orient Express hotel, after La Minerva in Rome, and entered the MICHELIN Guide with one Key that September.
- Arrival by water Boats pull up at the hotel's own dock and guests enter through a fifteenth-century Gothic portal; on foot, the door is in the Santa Fosca garden.
- The Wagon Bar An Art Deco bar modelled on the lounge cars of the old train, serving cocktails and cicchetti.
- Rooms of state The 1548 ballroom, a library and a music room, all frescoed and gilded, can be taken for private dinners and events.
Rooms & suites
From a canal room to a suite under frescoes.
Rooms and suites run from about 30 to 148 square metres, with Murano glass and terrazzo floors; the six Signature Suites fill the piano nobile.
- Rooms Superior and Deluxe About 32 and 40 square metres, with Venetian stucco and terrazzo floors.
- Suites Junior Suite and Suite 46 and about 58 square metres; the Junior Suites have hand-painted travel scenes and fretwork drawn from the Ca' d'Oro.
- Signature Colori Persi, Teatro and Del Conte Two under ceilings frescoed in 1860, over the garden or the Rio di Santa Fosca; the Del Conte was once Count Giovannelli's own apartment.
- Longer stays Orient Express Apartments In the building next door, for families or long visits.
Dining
Heinz Beck in Cannaregio.
Venues as listed by the hotel and Forbes Travel Guide. Heinz Beck Venezia was announced for later in 2026. Shown for information.
- La Casati Venetian, with lagoon produce Overseen by Heinz Beck, beneath frescoes
- Heinz Beck Venezia Fine dining Heinz Beck, of La Pergola in Rome
- Wagon Bar Cocktails and cicchetti Art Deco, after the train's lounge cars
Recognition
Recognition.
- One MICHELIN Key 2026, new in the selection
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival By private boat to the canal entrance, or on foot through the garden, about ten minutes from Santa Lucia station.
- On foot The Rialto is about twelve minutes away, St Mark's about twenty.
- Spa A small wellness space is open; a fuller spa with the Sicilian brand Furtuna has been announced.
Getting there
Flying to Venice.
Venice Marco Polo takes scheduled flights and private jets, and its general aviation terminal has its own water-taxi docks. A water taxi to the hotel's dock takes about twenty to thirty minutes, our estimate. Treviso is the alternative airport for jets.
- Nice 55 min
- Geneva 1 h 00
- Paris 1 h 25
- London 1 h 50
- New York 9 h 05 long-range jet
Questions
What guests ask first.
- Does Orient Express Venezia have a MICHELIN Key?
- Yes. It entered the 2026 Italian selection with one Key, a few months after opening.
- Can we arrive by boat?
- Yes. Water taxis stop at the hotel's dock on the canal, and guests enter through the old Gothic portal.
- Who runs the kitchen?
- Heinz Beck, the chef of La Pergola in Rome, oversees La Casati and a fine-dining restaurant under his own name.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Venice?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Venice, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Venice
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Aman Venice Twenty-four rooms in a restored Renaissance palazzo on the Grand Canal, with the spa in the building next door.
- Hotel Cipriani, A Belmond Hotel Gardens on Giudecca, a heated saltwater pool and the starred Oro; a seasonal hotel, reopening on 1 June 2027.
- Airelles Palladio, Venezia The first Airelles outside France, facing St Mark's across the water, with an indoor pool and a Guerlain spa.
- The Gritti Palace The fifteenth-century home of Doge Gritti on the Grand Canal, looking across to the Salute.
- Nolinski Venezia The old Chamber of Commerce near La Fenice, dressed in Venetian glass and Art Deco lines.
- Hotel Metropole Once an orphanage where Vivaldi taught music, now family-run, with a bar in the old chapel.
- Palazzo Venart A sixteenth-century palace a few steps from the Grand Canal, home to the two-star Glam.
- Londra Palace Rooms over the lagoon and San Giorgio, the view the hotel credits with Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony.
- Ca' di Dio A compound founded in 1272 to lodge pilgrims and Crusaders, refitted by Patricia Urquiola's studio as 66 rooms, most of them suites.
- Violino d'Oro Three historic palaces joined above Rio San Moisè and furnished by Rubelli and Venini; Il Piccolo has eight tables.
- The St. Regis Venice A hundred and twenty-four rooms and thirty-nine suites on the Grand Canal, and a bar whose drinks can be taken out into the garden.
- Baglioni Hotel Luna Newly renovated, on Calle Larga de l'Ascension, a minute on foot from Piazza San Marco.
- Ca' Sagredo Hotel A fifteenth-century palace, now a national monument, with a frescoed ballroom and a terrace restaurant, L'Alcova, looking across to the Rialto Market.
- Palazzina Grassi Philippe Starck designed all twenty-five rooms and suites, and the Krug lounge looks out over the Grand Canal.
- Sina Centurion Palace Fifty rooms near the Salute and Punta della Dogana, with tables for Antinoo's set out on the Grand Canal decking.
- JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa Nineteen buildings spread over a private island of about forty acres, with a rooftop pool and a shuttle boat to the Giardini Reali pier.
- Hotel Excelsior Venice Lido Resort Opened in 1908 to designs by Giovanni Sardi, with Moorish arches and cabanas on the Adriatic beach.
- San Clemente Palace Venice A private island of eight hectares a few minutes by boat from San Marco, in the Legend Collection of Preferred Hotels since 2026.
Staying at Orient Express Venezia?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Venice, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.