Hotel Danieli

The Danieli occupies the Palazzo Dandolo, a 14th-century Gothic palace built for one of Venice's great patrician families, a few steps from Piazza San Marco on the lagoon-front Riva degli Schiavoni. It has operated as a hotel since the 1820s, gathering a guest list of writers and composers—Dickens, Wagner, Proust among them—and its four-storey golden atrium, all Byzantine arches, marble balustrades and a grand staircase, remains one of the most extraordinary hotel interiors in Europe.

The hotel spreads across three linked palazzi of different eras, so rooms vary considerably: the historic Dandolo wing carries the antiques, damasks and Murano chandeliers that people cross the world for, while lagoon-facing rooms watch the vaporetti and gondolas trace the basin of San Marco. This is emphatically a heritage experience—corridors twist, floors vary—and that texture is precisely its appeal.

The Terrazza Danieli restaurant and bar occupy the rooftop, with a panorama sweeping from San Giorgio Maggiore across the lagoon to the Lido that justifies the visit on its own. Doge's Palace and the Basilica are two minutes' walk, yet the hotel's position just beyond the piazza keeps mornings surprisingly calm. For the full romantic idea of Venice—gilded, storied, slightly theatrical—the Danieli has no real rival.