Airelles Palladio

Airelles' first Italian property, on Giudecca, facing St. Mark's Square across the lagoon. A 16th-century Palladian palazzo dressed in Rubelli and Fortuny, a hectare of gardens with three pools, a 1,700-square-metre spa, and Nobu's Matsuhisa plus Cédric Grolet making their Italian debuts under one roof. The Airelles standard applied to Venice — a serious proposition.

You arrive by private boat — St. Mark's Campanile rising above the waterline, the basilica dome behind it. Giudecca is, in almost every sense, the opposite of what most people experience in Venice: no crowds, no cruise ship overflow, the island that Venetian aristocracy and artists have favoured for centuries precisely because it offers the view without the noise.

Airelles chose it deliberately, and it's the right call. The 16th-century facade, the gardens, the quiet — you understand immediately that this is a different kind of Venice stay.

Seventeen rooms and 28 suites, each a considered conversation between Venetian craft and contemporary comfort. Rubelli and Fortuny fabrics on the walls and furnishings, hand-painted frescoes, antique furniture with provenance — nothing generic, nothing that could be anywhere else. The suites with St. Mark's views give you the entire panorama of La Serenissima from across the water. At the far end of the property, a private three-bedroom villa with its own pool offers complete separation for guests who want it.

Four chefs, each making their Venice debut here. Matsuhisa — Nobu's Venice outpost — is the anchor: Japanese-Peruvian cuisine at its most precise, in a setting that earns the food. Cédric Grolet, the most technically exacting pastry chef working in Paris today, opens his first Italian space here. The breadth of the food offer is unusual for a single hotel, and the standard is consistent across all of it.

Giudecca sits across a short stretch of water from the main island — eight minutes by private boat, a world apart in character. The island has its own restaurants, the Redentore church, and the particular calm of a place where Venetians actually live. It rewards those who want to explore rather than those who want convenience. The tradeoff — you are not in the middle of things — is entirely worth it.