Four Seasons Reopens Venice's Danieli After Rochon Restoration

Hotel Danieli, Venezia reopened as a Four Seasons property in July 2026 with 120 rooms and suites across two restored palazzi, and Pierre-Yves Rochon steering the interiors. The total will reach 168 rooms when restoration of the third building, Palazzo Danieli Excelsior, concludes in 2027. Rates start at €2,300 per night, breakfast included.

Rochon, whose studio also refreshed the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris, worked under the supervision of the Soprintendenza, Italy's heritage authority. His team adapted the buildings' protected floor plans to add dressing areas, enlarged bathrooms and additional suites. The renovation preserves gilded ceilings and Murano chandeliers while introducing the pale blues and greens of the lagoon outside.

'We chose materials rooted in Venetian history and craft: Murano glass, terrazzo seminato alla veneziana, Italian marbles, Venetian mirror and woven damasks,' Rochon said, explaining that each material had to 'extend the vocabulary of the palazzi and work with the light'.

What changed in the public rooms?

Check-in now happens in the Sala delle Maschere, a former events room where restored panelling and a frieze of theatrical masks surround paintings of carnival festivities and life along the Riva degli Schiavoni.

In Palazzo Dandolo, guests enter beneath an azure ceiling patterned with gilded quatrefoils, its hand-painted decoration restored by specialist craftspeople who also attended to the columns, stonework and floors. The grand staircase continues the gilded stuccowork.

The lobby lounge keeps its pastel Murano chandeliers and restored roundel-glass windows. A large painting of Venice now hangs at the entrance opposite a mirrored screen. The historic reception counter and key cabinet moved within the rearranged public rooms.

Textiles come from Rubelli and Dedar. Furniture is bespoke by Poliform, Medea and Salda. Mirrors and lighting are by Arte Veneziana and Viamancinelli. The decorative collection — intaglios, Venetian engravings, antiqued mirrors — draws on the collecting habits of Grand Tour travellers.

How much historic fabric did the plan protect?

The hotel occupies three interconnected palazzi. Palazzo Dandolo, built for the aristocratic Dandolo family, became a hotel in 1822 when Giuseppe Dal Niel converted it. Later expansions absorbed Palazzo Casa Nuova, formerly the Venetian Republic's Treasury, and the post-war Palazzo Danieli Excelsior.

Only the first two palazzi have reopened. Bathrooms grew wherever the historic fabric permitted, and several suites now connect to adjoining bedrooms for families, with layouts that accommodate dining and working.

Which suite should practitioners study?

The former bistro on Palazzo Dandolo's fourth floor is now a 133 sq m Presidential Suite, arranged as a one-bedroom apartment with contemporary furniture and artwork — a deliberate departure from the damasks and antiques elsewhere. It has a living room with a dining table for six, a separate dressing area and a marble bathroom with a bath, walk-in shower and a wall of windows.

Lagoon-view suites frame San Giorgio Maggiore across the water, revealed by automated curtains. Rochon carries the lagoon's pale blues and celadon greens into the furnishings, with Rubelli's San Marco damask recoloured for the guestrooms. Marble bathrooms have walk-in showers and Jesurum toiletries by La Bottega; selected Grand Lagoon-View Suites add a separate bath.

What does the food and beverage offer look like?

At Terrazza Danieli, tables overlooking San Giorgio Maggiore remain the draw. 'As soon as the weather allows, every guest wants to be on the terrace,' Rochon said. He dressed the outdoor space in terracotta tones to complement the historic façade. Inside, sky blue and muted gold replace the former dark finishes, and mirrors pull the lagoon view into the dining room.

Executive chef Adriano Rausa, Roman-born with Sicilian roots, joined from W Rome after training alongside Oliver Glowig, Gennaro Esposito and Ciccio Sultano. His suppliers include Osti in Orto on Sant'Erasmo, the island long cultivated as Venice's kitchen garden; fish arrives daily from the Rialto market. Homemade mezze maniche comes with blue lobster, cherry tomatoes and lemon, and the daily Mediterranean catch is served oven-baked or salt-crusted with seasonal Sant'Erasmo vegetables.

At Bar Dandolo, the cocktail From Venice with Love nods to the hotel's appearance in the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love, directed by Terence Young. The Vesper variation combines Tanqueray No. Ten gin, Altamura vodka, Mancino Bianco Ambrato vermouth, Nardini Acqua di Cedro, fino sherry and Aphrodite bitters, batched in advance and served ice-cold from the freezer. A classic Negroni is also on the list.

When does the spa arrive?

A temporary treatment room operates ahead of the permanent spa. It offers the 75-minute Glow Facial, using Mario Badescu skincare with a deep cleanse followed by lymphatic, sculpting and relaxing massage, and the 60-minute Su Misura Massage — named for the Italian tailoring term for made-to-measure — which combines Swedish massage, deep-tissue work, aromatherapy and stretching after a consultation. The finished spa will have three treatment rooms, including one for couples, plus a sauna and hammam.

The setting

The Doge's Palace sits across the Ponte della Paglia, and Piazza San Marco lies moments away. Carlo Scarpa admirers can walk to the Negozio Olivetti on Piazza San Marco and the Fondazione Querini Stampalia near Campo Santa Maria Formosa. The hotel's social history runs deep: Maria Callas met Aristotle Onassis at a party here in 1957, and the affair between Eleonora Duse and Gabriele D'Annunzio began within its rooms decades earlier.

Danieli, Venezia, A Four Seasons Hotel is at Riva degli Schiavoni 4196, Venice. With Palazzo Danieli Excelsior still in restoration until 2027, Rochon's work is one phase into a longer project — and the lagoon-facing suites will set the benchmark against which the final 48 rooms are judged.