Casa Flora hotel - Venice, Italy

Many modern hoteliers like to trumpet the fact that they offer the comforts of a boutique property with the freedom of a private home. Few, though, do it as literally as the newly opened Casa Flora.

Located in a 19th-century building in Venice’s San Marco quarter, the three-bedroom apartment hotel is the brainchild of Gioele Romanelli and Diego Paccagnella, the goal being to ‘reimagine the role that Venetians hotels can play in supporting sustainable tourism and bring life to contemporary Venice’.

The hotel is divided into two parts. The first is a flexible public space on the piano nobile in which the owners stage various activities ranging from cooking classes, to bespoke shoe demonstrations and cocktail conversations with local artists. The second leads into high-ceilinged private rooms, each of which features a spa and hammam.

Architect Matteo Ghidoni and interior designer Laura Sari have furnished the spaces almost exclusively with Italian material, whether the palladiana terrazzo tiles that’s a common feature in houses along the lagoon, green stone, Rubelli textiles, Murano tchotchkes, or doors fashioned from briar wood.

And, if during your stay, you find yourself lusting after a particular objet in the casa, the good news is that everything, even the kitchen sink, is available for sale.