Foresteria Valdese

Sleeping in an 18th-century palace without paying palace prices

The Foresteria Valdese occupies Palazzo Cavagnis, in the sestiere of Castello, a few minutes from Campo Santa Maria Formosa. It is the guesthouse of the Waldensian Church, which bought the palace in 1868 and turned it into a place of welcome and a school for poor children. The building was rebuilt in the early 18th century to a design by the architect Domenico Rossi, and on the piano nobile frescoes by Venetian painters remain; the ceiling with the myth of Bacchus and Ariadne was painted by Carlo Bevilacqua in 1810. Today the palace is a declared national monument.

It is not a luxury hotel, nor does it pretend to be: it is a simple, well-located house, with common lounges for reading or chatting, a small book-swap library and a play corner for children. It is open all year.

The rooms

There are singles, doubles, triples and rooms with several beds. All have wifi, air conditioning, hairdryer and towels. The bathroom varies by room: some have it inside, others private but outside the room and others shared, the cheapest option.

The most requested are the rooms with a view, bright and overlooking the canal; some retain frescoes by Santi and Bevilacqua. The rooms with four to seven beds, with their own bathroom, are intended for families and groups and look onto the canal or the rooftops. There is a lift.

Continental breakfast is served from 8:00 to 9:30, and during the day there are coffee, tea and chocolate machines. Reception is open from 8:00 to 19:00; if you are going to arrive later, tell them beforehand, because out-of-hours arrival is arranged and may carry a supplement. They speak Spanish, as well as English, Italian, French and German.

Getting there

From Marco Polo airport, the house recommends the Alilaguna boat, blue line, to the Ospedale stop: about 40 minutes by boat to Fondamente Nove, plus ten or fifteen minutes' walk from the airport to the jetty. From Ospedale it is five minutes on foot: you skirt the hospital along Fondamenta dei Mendicanti, cross Campo San Giovanni e Paolo and continue along Barbaria de le Tole to Calle dell'Ospedaletto and the Cavagnis bridge. If you come by car, leave it on the mainland: the house suggests the Marive service, with guarded parking and a launch to Fondamente Nove.

What is nearby

Fondamente Nove, from where the vaporettos leave for Murano, Burano and Torcello, is a walk away. You reach St Mark's on foot in a quarter of an hour, and the Venetian rowing lesson leaves from the Sacca della Misericordia, in Cannaregio, about twenty minutes away.