Cannaregio / Grand Canal at Santa Sofia

Ca Sagredo Hotel

★★★★★

Ca' Sagredo is the hotel for travellers who want to sleep inside a museum. The palazzo, a fifteenth-century palace on the Grand Canal at Campo Santa Sofia, belonged for centuries to the Sagredo family, one of the patrician dynasties of the Republic, and its interiors still hold significant works of art from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: frescoed and painted ceilings, stucco, a monumental staircase and grand reception rooms that feel more like a noble home than a hotel. Breakfast is served in the Sala di Tiepolo beneath a painted ceiling, and the ballroom and music rooms are among the most beautiful interiors in any Venetian hotel. Today it is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, with rooms and suites that range from comfortable doubles to grand suites overlooking the canal, furnished with antiques and Venetian fabrics. L'Alcova, the hotel's restaurant, has a terrace right on the Grand Canal, one of the best places in the city for a long lunch or dinner watching the boats and the market barges. The location is a little away from the main tourist currents, between the Rialto Bridge and the Ca' d'Oro, in the sestiere of Cannaregio, so the lanes outside are lively but local. The Rialto Market is directly across the canal and reached by the Santa Sofia traghetto, if it is running, or a short walk over the bridge; the Ca' d'Oro vaporetto stop on Line 1 is a few minutes away.

Why choose it: Ca' Sagredo combines the Grand Canal frontage and historic grandeur of the big San Marco hotels with a calmer neighbourhood and, often, slightly gentler rates. The art is the point — even the corridors feel like a palace tour — and rooms in the historic part of the building, especially those overlooking the canal, are the ones to book. As in any historic palazzo, room sizes and layouts vary considerably, so read the descriptions carefully and ask for a canal view if that is what you want.

Practicalities: the hotel has no car access, as nowhere in central Venice does; arrive by water taxi to the canal entrance, or by vaporetto to Ca' d'Oro and walk a few minutes. Pets are allowed on request, with size limits and a fee. Wi-Fi is free, and the concierge can arrange gondolas, tours and restaurant bookings. In-room dining and the L'Alcova terrace make it easy to stay in on a rainy evening.

Who it suits: art lovers, couples and travellers who want a grand, historic Grand Canal stay without being in the crush of San Marco. It also makes an excellent base for exploring Cannaregio, the Ghetto and the islands, since the Fondamente Nove boats to Murano and Burano are a short walk north, and the Rialto's bacari are just across the water. Do not miss the monumental staircase, designed by Andrea Tirali, whose walls and ceiling carry Pietro Longhi's fresco of the Fall of the Giants, a rare large-scale work by the painter best known for the small domestic scenes you can see at Ca' Rezzonico. The Ca' d'Oro, with its Mantegna and its loggia over the Grand Canal, is a few minutes' walk away, and the traghetto at Santa Sofia, when it runs, crosses straight to the Rialto Market for a morning of fish stalls and cicchetti.