Casa Flora: Italian Design in Venice

Located in a 19th century building in Venice’s San Marco quarter, Casa Flora is an Italian design apartment, completely custom made, that welcomes travelers with the comforts of a boutique hotel but at the same time, the freedom of a private home. This sparkling jewel nestled in the heart of Venice, is the brainchild of Gioele Romanelli and Diego Paccagnella’s vision to combine hospitality and custom design. The result is a place that didn’t exist before in the lagoon; a place that challenges traditional hospitality models and uses artisanal design to foster sustainable tourism. Every single corner of Casa Flora preserves the most genuine essence of Italian design, repurposing Venice’s imagery in contemporary forms.

Photography by Valentina Sommariva

In the house, the guest can enjoy two areas with different but complementary functions. The main entrance leads directly to the noble floor, which is also the social core of the house - a sort of domestic “campo” that can be used for dinners prepared in the adjacent kitchen by local chefs, or for work related meetings. Large windows allow the lagoon’s light to brighten the space and three portals connect the different living environments, ensuring a fluid ensemble.

Photography by Valentina Sommariva

This area is comfortable and suitable for interaction, a place where a proper exchange takes place. This is, indeed, a real stage for the most varied activities, ranging from cooking classes, to bespoke shoe demonstrations and cocktail conversations with local artists. Here guests experience authentic Venetian culture, seeing it firsthand inside a space, strongly inspired by the lagoon tradition, in its colors and shapes but reinterpreted in a contemporary key.

Photography by Valentina Sommariva

On the other side of the apartment are the private bedrooms designed to enhance privacy and well-being. The characteristic colors of the lagoon, such as light pink, green, yellow and blue are used for this intimate part of the house. Within these environments guests can find traditional Venetian materials: precious fabrics wisely hand-woven by local artisans and Murano glass decorative pieces specifically designed to decorate every corner of Casa Flora, and custom-made furniture that recall Venetian design of nineteenth century, revisited by intercepting contemporary trends.

Guests can experience Venice also in the use of stone, indeed only at Casa Flora it is possible to find lavatories made of Palladian terrazzo tiles, a stone treatment technique usually used for flooring in the lagoon’s houses, or green stone surfaces recalling the color of the city’s canals. It is the details that make the stay in this Venetian house unforgettable!

Photography by Valentina Sommariva

The name "Casa Flora" is not coincidental, in fact one of the main elements underlying well-being within the rooms is greenery: Flora in Italian indicates the botanical world and natural design references are scattered throughout the whole space. Natural element represent a consistent presence, from the restrooms designed as relaxing greenhouses to the flourishing garden in Casa Flora courtyard. Relaxing with a good book in the dedicated reading area or enjoying time in the Spa with Hammam, surrounded by a jungle of lush plants is a magical and rejuvenating experience, especially if it takes place in the heart of one of the world's most extraordinary cities: Venice.

Photography by Valentina Sommariva

Casa Flora experience follows the guests also as they leave the house to explore the city and its treasures. Even before opening Casa Flora Gioele and his wife Heiby Romanelli always strived to share the contemporary Venice they know and love with their guests; this led them to launch “Inside Venice”, an online guide that tells the stories of people and special places that represent the bustling, contemporary city of water.

In the same spirit Casa Flora offers personal services and itineraries. Guests can take a boat tour at night and appreciate the city’s silence, learn how to cook local dishes from the city’s best chefs or meet Venetians artisans such as tailors and shoemakers. Casa Flora is a special place that allows guests to feel less like visitors and more like contemporary Venetians.