Our days in Venice revolved around the Biennale and the many exhibitions taking place throughout the city. That meant early starts, long walks, vaporetto rides and hours inside museums, galleries and palazzi.
HOTELS
Nolinski Venezia gave us an ideal base for that schedule: close to many of the places we wanted to visit, yet calm enough to offer a genuine reset every time we returned.
Location
Nolinski Venezia occupies the former Venice Stock Exchange on Calle Larga XXII Marzo, a few canals from Piazza San Marco and close to La Fenice opera house. Luxury boutiques line the surrounding streets, while many of Venice’s cultural landmarks remain within easy walking distance.
For an art focused trip, the location proved particularly useful. We could start the day early, return to the hotel between exhibitions when the schedule allowed, and head out again for dinner or an evening event without spending unnecessary time in transit.
Design and Architecture
EVOK chose Venice for its first hotel outside France and asked interior designers Lecoadic & Scotto to work with a building completed in 1929. Architect Umberto Bellotto combined Art Nouveau, Stile Liberty and Modernist influences in the original structure, including wrought iron details and a monumental staircase.
The renovation retains terrazzo floors and marmorino walls while introducing stucco marbro, mango wood joinery, metal details and velvet. Venetian artisans created blown glass lanterns influenced by those found in the Doge’s Palace.
Art appears throughout the property, including in corridors and smaller corners that could easily have remained purely functional. The Library Bar provides one of the strongest examples. More than 4,000 books fill its shelves, while a piano and Simon Buret’s ceiling fresco give the room an intimate character.
Rooms and Suites
Nolinski Venezia has 43 rooms, including 13 suites, with sizes ranging from 20 to 82 square metres. Architectural differences give individual rooms their own character. Some feature vaulted ceilings, while others retain exposed beams.
Stucco marbro headboards, mango wood joinery, metal clad sliding doors and Italian Art Deco influenced furniture continue the material language found elsewhere in the hotel. Bathrooms introduce another playful Venetian reference through mosaic octopuses.
After full days spent visiting exhibitions, we appreciated how calm the rooms felt. The richness of the materials never made the interiors feel overly formal, and the hotel offered exactly the kind of privacy we wanted between a packed daytime schedule and evenings in the city.
Dining and Drinks
Nolinski Venezia now hosts Zeffirino, the Genoese restaurant founded by the Belloni family in 1939. Zeffirino Ristorante serves dinner on the third floor, with a menu rooted in Ligurian cooking.
Its best known dish remains Genoese pesto, prepared with Basilico di Pra, Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino, pine nuts, garlic and extra virgin olive oil. The restaurant can finish the pesto tableside from its dedicated trolley.
At ground level, Il Caffè Zeffirino offers a more relaxed experience around its courtyard from midday into the evening.
The Library Bar became our preferred place for a drink after returning from the city. Its books, wood finishes and lower lighting create a noticeably different atmosphere from the busy streets outside.
Spa and Pool
The Ottoman inspired spa offers a private setting for treatments using myBlend skincare. Its program includes radiofrequency, electrostimulation, cryo thermo aesthetics and LED technology, alongside face and body treatments tailored to individual needs.
The pool provides another reason to reserve time inside the hotel. Golden mosaic surfaces surround the water, while windows open views toward the rooftops and Venetian sky. After hours on foot, it became one of the easiest places to disconnect from our schedule.
Staying at Nolinski Venezia
Nolinski Venezia works particularly well for travelers who want to remain close to Venice’s cultural activity without carrying its intensity back into their hotel. During our Biennale visit, that balance became its greatest strength.
We could spend the day running between exhibitions and appointments, then return to a hotel where architecture, art, food and wellness provided reasons to stay in for a few hours. In a city that constantly asks you to keep looking, Nolinski Venezia gave us somewhere equally rewarding to stop.
Nolinski Venezia – Evok Collection
Calle Larga XXII Marzo, 2032, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy
+39 041 406 2459
booking@nolinskivenezia.com
www.evokcollection.com
