New York Times, 6 October 2009
House Hunting in ... Venice
This 120-square-meter (1,290-square-foot) home is in a pink stucco palazzo built in the 17th century. The apartment is a piano nobile, which means it’s on the palazzo’s second floor, and has ceilings 4.2 meters (13.8 feet) high. Off the living room, a 1.5-by-4.5-meter (5-by-15-foot) balcony with a stone balustrade has scenic canal views. The doors leading out to the balcony are original and date to the 19th century; they were restored with hand-blown glass panes.
A renovation in 1992 revealed an original fresco of a lagoon nature scene in the master bedroom. The living room has 70 square meters (about 750 square feet) of space, as well as marble floors, beamed ceilings and decorative ornamental plaster. Overlooking the living area, an open loft area accessible by a flight of stairs is currently used as a meditation space. The dining area is in a sunken alcove off the living area.
The galley-style kitchen has lacquer cabinets; a guest bath has green marble floors and counters, as well as white marble walls inset with colored glass. The master bedroom has a French marble decorative fireplace and a frescoed ceiling that depicts a mythological scene, as well as the recently discovered partial wall fresco; the master bathtub is encased in mahogany veneer. The second bedroom has an original Venetian stone decorative fireplace, as well as a loft area currently used as an office.
Buyers will have exclusive use of the internal courtyard, which is approximately 100 square meters (about 1,100 square feet), as well as an approximately 47-square-meter (500-square-foot) unfinished two-room studio and a 10-square-meter (110-square-foot) storage room. The flat is in the residential neighborhood of Cannaregio, which has many boutiques and restaurants. The Grand Canal is a five-minute walk; Piazza San Marco is about 25 minutes. The airport is 25 minutes by boat...