The luxury of loving Italy… These are the very last words of Italian Hours, a collection of essays which the great Henry James wrote about the bel paese more than a century ago, and which I have recently read with great interest.
I had been to Venice a hundred times before, at least, and never, ever had I witnessed the phenomenon which I had been reading and hearing about for more than twenty years. And then it happened, on the 5th of November 2017: Venice’s acqua alta. Its high water.
I think I have already told you this once, perhaps even twice: I have been in love with linen and fabrics for a very long time, especially Italian ones.
Lying just a leisurely ten minutes’ walk from our Palazzo Ca’nova, one of my favourite shops in Venice happens to be successfully run by a highly talented fabric designer: Chiarastella Cattana.
During the time when I was working on the renovation of our Palazzo Ca’nova, I took countless walks in the area around it, just to explore, stretch my legs, get some fresh air…
On one occasion, I ended up on the Campo dell’Angelo Raffaele, a lovely piazza in the Dorsoduro neighbourhood. I have no idea how I landed up there, but this is the rule in Venice: getting lost in its labyrinth always leads you to the best surprises.
Good news, I’m starting to be “with it” as far as social media are concerned.
You may remember the article I posted in late August about the Trust & Travel Instagram account we had just created. Now I recently went a step further with this popular photo-sharing service by hosting a special “Instagram event” in our Palazzo Ca’nova apartments in Venice.
In order to properly oversee the restoration, decoration and final touches of our new exclusive project in Venice – the Ca’nova Palazzo with its four superb apartments, – I have had to spend quite a bit of time over there, as you can imagine, repeatedly shuttling back and forth between the City of Light and the Serenissima.
At the beginning, everytime I was about to run out to catch a flight from Paris, my daughter used to pull a face and gently lament: “You’re not going to Venice again, Mummy, are you?”
It was last summer, during my very first visit to the Ca’nova Palazzo. At one point, escorted by the delightful owners of the premises, I walked into one of the spacious rooms and uttered under my breath: “Wow!” Then I glided over to the window opening onto the Grand Canal and went again, but in a louder tone this time: “Wooow!”
A few weeks ago, as you may remember, I started to tell you about the three outstanding apartments which we will soon be adding to our Trust&Travel rental catalogue. These three gems lie within the historic precincts of the Ca’nova Palazzo, a sumptuous building looking onto Venice’s Grand Canal and the Punta della Dogana.
Even though we still have to give the project the finishing touches, I can no longer wait to share this with you. We’ll soon be adding to our rental catalogue three beautiful apartments which open out their spacious rooms inside the Ca’nova historical Palazzo, an exceptional building looking onto Venice’s Grand Canal.
“In seed-time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy”… William Blake, the great English poet and painter, wrote these words two centuries ago. Continue Reading →
