Two Gothic-revival palazzi facing the Zattere waterfront in Dorsoduro — the former headquarters of the Adriatica di Navigazione shipping company, their pointed Venetian arches and terracotta brick facades still carrying the company's gilded signage — were converted in 2019 into Il Palazzo Experimental, the Parisian hospitality group's first Italian venture. The interior transformation was handed to Dorothée Meilichzon, Experimental Group's in-house creative director, whose approach here is more confident and more architecturally conversational than almost anything she had produced previously. The Gothic window tracery becomes a recurring compositional motif inside: Meilichzon echoes the building's ogee arches in custom headboards upholstered in navy velvet and pale grey ribbed fabric, in arched mirror frames outlined in aubergine-lacquered steel in the bar, and in the tall plaster surrounds of the restaurant's full-height windows. That dining room, with its Calacatta marble pedestal tables, dark walnut banquette dividers, forest-green half-wall panelling, and Venetian terrazzo floor, draws the Adriatic light inward without competing with the canal views directly beyond. Bedrooms alternate between terracotta-pink Venetian plaster with burnt-sienna wainscoting and cooler mineral grey, each furnished with a low rounded armchair in salmon velvet that carries a faint echo of Carlo Mollino. The cocktail bar compresses everything into a single jewellery-box room: plum walls, brass pendant rings, a curved black granite counter, and Murano-glass mirror detailing that acknowledges exactly where you are without resorting to pastiche.

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Nestled in the heart of Venice's Dorsoduro district, Il Palazzo Experimental has been designed by Dorothee Meilichzon who has transformed a jewel box renaissance palace into a stylish boutique hotel. Ideally located in Dorsoduro district, 32 rooms and suites. Canal and garden views, restaurant, private, garden, Cocktail Club.