Orient Express Palazzo Donà Giovannelli: the next upcoming hotel of the legendary brand following the opening of Orient Express La Minerva in Rome invites travellers into a world where the splendour of Venice and the spirit of travel converge. A jewel of Neogothic and Baroque architecture once nestled on the original Orient Express route to Constantinople, Palazzo Dona Giovannelli reawakens as an immersive destination where history meets emotion, beauty and rebirth. The hotel’s forty-seven guestrooms, suites, and apartments housed in a 15th-century Venetian Palazzo, are now available to book.
In the heart of Cannaregio, the first Venetian district where the life of La Serenissima remains untouched, Orient Express Palazzo Donà Giovannelli occupies a singular position at the confluence of two canals, in a noble residence built in 1436 under the reign of master architect Filippo Calendario, the visionary behind the Doge’s Palace.
Architect and interior designer Aline Asmar d’Amman has masterfully orchestrated a multilayered restoration, where theatrical grandeur meets luminous poetry. From original frescoes by great Italian masters to mosaic floors, every patina, every detail was revived with reverence to rekindle Palazzo Dona Giovannelli’s enduring legacy.
A tribute to Venice as a crossroads of civilizations, the architecture blends Neogothic verticality, Baroque opulence and classical harmony, a rich dialogue between the styles that have shaped its layered stories. Outside, Palazzo Dona Giovannelli’s spectacular façade, punctuated by a row of seven finely carved Gothic windows, gleams above the Rio de Noale, dancing with light and reflections.
“More than a hotel, Orient Express Palazzo Donà Giovannelli is a transformative voyage through centuries of splendour. Rooted in the poetic vision of Orient Express, this Venetian property embodies a heritage in motion where every stay becomes a passage through memory, art, and emotion,” says Gilda Perez-Alvarado, Orient Express CEO.
Once the private residence of the noble Donà and Giovannelli families, great patrons of the arts and later gifted to the Duke of Urbino, Palazzo Dona Giovannelli holds a legacy of grandeur and celebration. From its gilded ballrooms to its hidden passageways, it now reawakens as a cultural sanctuary in the heart of Cannaregio.
Guests begin their journey by private boat, arriving through a spectacular 15th-century Gothic portal on the canal, or passing across a discreet doorway into Santa Fosca’s secret garden. Others step off the Strada Nova into the serene courtyard, each entrance a prelude to an experience as rare as it is unforgettable.
The journey continues inside a dramatic lobby flooded with light and theatricality, under wooden high ceilings with a welcoming scene befitting a noble mansion, studded with old and new treasures, meticulously curated and considered. Guests are drawn upward by the breathtaking octagonal staircase, an architectural masterpiece added in the 19th century by Giovanni Battista Meduna, the architect behind Venice’s Ca’ d’Oro and La Fenice theatre. Crowned by a celestial stone and glass vault, the splendid space appeals to discover the Piano Nobile with unprecedented glamour and elevation.
At the Piano Nobile, a series of storied rooms open their doors for celebration and reflection revealing additional layers of cultural richness: the shimmering baroque Vittoria Ballroom, originally created for the 1548 wedding of Princess Vittoria Farnese, the spectacular Library of Cultures with its lapis lazuli pigments and gilded woods, and the Music Room where the spirit of Venice’s golden age lingers in every detail, reviving the intellectual fervor of past gatherings.
Palazzo Donà Giovannelli offers 47 guestrooms, suites and apartments, where heritage meets contemporary design in a timeless setting, evocative of the finest Venetian lifestyle. Transforming such an extraordinary address demanded an exceptional creative force: architect and interior designer Aline Asmar d’Amman. Her masterful renovation of Orient Express Palazzo Donà Giovannelli is both an artistic statement and an architectural feat, an effortless dialogue between memory and modernity, exceptional artistry and creative nowness.
Six Signature Suites, located on the Piano Nobile and first floor, reflect the distinctive grandeur of the Serenissima’s art of living with tailored spaces of unique character, while the first-ever Orient Express Apartments housed in an adjacent building offer a residential vibrancy with reinterpreted modernity and outstanding canal views.
The hotel’s culinary offering includes an intimate fine dining restaurant with private boat access, an all-day dining space overlooking the lively courtyard and lush garden, a rarity in Venice, and the iconic Wagon Bar – a nod to the golden age of rail travel.
Orient Express Palazzo Donà Giovannelli is a new chapter in the brand’s poetic journey: a noble soul reborn in Venice.
