{"id":46797,"date":"2025-09-06T06:31:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T06:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/46797\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T06:31:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T06:31:20","slug":"aline-asmar-damman-restores-venices-historic-palazzo-dona-giovannelli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/46797\/","title":{"rendered":"Aline Asmar d’Amman Restores Venice’s Historic Palazzo Don\u00e0 Giovannelli"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tGrowing up during the Lebanese Civil War, famed architect and designer Aline Asmar d\u2019Amman<\/a> was often cozied in her room, her nose buried in a book to dampen the noise from the bombs outside. One of those stories transported her to a world she would one day come to know quite well. It was an essay written by Russian American writer Joseph Brodsky, who wrote awe inspiring prose on Venice, its charm and treasures.<\/p>\n

\n\tLittle did she know that when she was all grown up, she would\u00a0spend almost a decade envisaging and executing the renovation of one of the city\u2019s most historic palaces, Palazzo Don\u00e0 Giovannelli, a noble residence built in 1436. Its original\u00a0design<\/a>\u00a0was led by master architect Filippo Calendario, one of the visionaries responsible for the design of Palazzo Ducale, the ancient seat of the Venetian Republic (Doge\u2019s Palace).<\/p>\n

\n\tEight years ago,\u00a0Arsenale Group asked\u00a0her\u00a0to turn an old Venetian residence into the hospitality world\u2019s latest gem\u00a0with\u00a0the Orient Express. Orient Express joined Arsenale in 2022 on the Palazzo Dona Giovannelli project.\u00a0Asmar d\u2019Amman is\u00a0also\u00a0currently working with its owner Arsenale Group on the Dream of the Desert train, the Gulf region\u2019s first luxury travel vessel. \u201cI remember my encounter with Paolo Barletta when I entered the palazzo for the first time. There was dust in the air and rays of light, and it was a suspended moment,\u201d she reminisces.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Inside<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tInside the Orient Express Palazzo Don\u00e0 Giovannelli.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Orient Express<\/p>\n

\n\tIt wasn\u2019t the first time Asmar d\u2019Amman has worked on a hotel. Before Karl Lagerfeld<\/a>\u2018s death, she led the artistic direction of the renovation of Paris\u2019\u00a0H\u00f4tel de Crillon<\/a>, elevating it to a modern, regal glory. With her studio Culture in Architecture, she was in charge of designing its exceptional suites and historical salons. She also worked as the architect to Lagerfeld on the hotel\u2019s Les Grands Appartements, which were outfitted with crystal chandeliers, marble baths, Lit \u00e0 la Polonaise canopy beds, and 18th-century double doors that were originally designed for the Royal Opera House of Bordeaux.<\/p>\n

\n\tOrient Express\u2019 latest location\u00a0tells Venice\u2019s history. It\u2019s brimming with defining\u00a0characteristics and historic relics, like the octagonal staircase added to the site by 19th-century architect Giovanni Battista Meduna. Meduna is famous for other cultural landmarks like the\u00a0Ca\u2019 d\u2019Oro<\/a>\u00a0and the city\u2019s La Fenice theatre. It also houses the baroque Sala Vittoria, originally created for the 1548 wedding between the Duke D\u2019Urbino\u2019s son, Guidobaldo II della Rovere, and Princess Vittoria Farnese, the Library of Cultures adorned gilded wood accented with lapis lazuli as well as a music room, frequented by generations of Venetian high society. When it officially opens April 1, guests of the hotel will be privy to a rare Venetian welcome. They will begin their journey by private boat and will enter the venue through a 15th-century Gothic portal on the canal or through a discreet doorway into the Santa Fosca secret garden.<\/p>\n

\t\tAn Arduous Task <\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe revamp process, however, was hardly a romantic endeavor. At times, the work was tedious and involved a team of experts including a supervisor from the Culture Ministry, engineers, patrimonial architects and many artisans. At the start, the project required building a damn to drain the water from the facade. A team of divers excavated the stones of the underwater foundation and inserted each one with a straw to extract the water inside, over hundreds of meters around the canals to dry, she recalls.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe stones that make up the walls and floors from the ground level were also treated one by one: Each one was\u00a0removed then numbered, soaked in basins of electrified salt water to also remove the salt from the stones,\u00a0she recalls.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd this is where I think about Joseph Brodsky, because he has this most beautiful sentence about the stones of Venice looking like the flesh of time.\u00a0And he said, every surface carves dust because dust is the flesh of time,\u201d she says, adding that the excavation team unearthed a well in the courtyard that could date back\u00a0to the\u00a0origins of Venice.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Orient<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tOrient Express Venice, Palazzo Don\u00e0 Giovannelli<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJeremy Zaessinger<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the 1800s,\u00a0the palazzo functioned as a Pinacoteca\u00a0housed the 15th- and 16th-century painter Giorgione\u2019s \u201cTempesta.\u201d Meduna controversially sought to block the natural light emanating through the neo Gothic arches on the main facade, in an attempt to protect the famed painting. The Tempesta is now housed in Venice\u2019s Gallerie dell\u2019Accademia.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsmar d\u2019Amman is careful to point out that she stayed true to the work of both Calendario and Meduna. The spaces have been entirely transformed, some new surface layers have been added, yet every new addition was carefully thought out,\u00a0with the ultimate goal of\u00a0creating liveable hospitality scenes that dialogue with a historic past.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese salons have six-meter high ceilings and frescoes on the wall you can\u2019t really touch. They also have decor on the ceilings you can\u2019t really touch.\u00a0They\u2019re not only elements of heritage but also of wonder, balancing east and west, orientalist influence with the finest craftsmanship,\u00a0speaking to Venice\u2019s rich history of cultural exchange and artistic innovation,\u201d she says, stressing the intent to respect its origins as a home, while transforming five historical salons into five exclusive suites.<\/p>\n

\t\tIf These Walls Could Talk<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYou have to keep the soul intact, otherwise you would miss out on the fact that this was a grand home of the Don\u00e0\u00a0then the\u00a0Giovannelli families\u00a0and that was passed to the Duke D\u2019Urbino \u2014 all of them great patrons of the arts. It was also a hub for intellectuals and scientists who were opposed to the oppression of the Austrian occupation that endured from 1797 to 1805 and again in 1815 to 1866. The latter part included the anti-Austrian movement.<\/p>\n

\n\tSome of the artistry inside, she says, embodies this era of resistance. \u201cThere are\u00a0painted medallions of\u00a0the\u00a0scientists and the intellectuals\u00a0who\u00a0met here to reinforce the Italian spirit,\u00a0contributing\u00a0in their own way to the independence of Italy<\/a>. They\u00a0are met by the gaze of\u00a0fierce goddesses painted on the ceilings \u2014 such as La Minerva, goddess of justice warfare and victory, and protector of the arts \u2014 bathed in [Giovanni Battista] Tiepolo and Tintoretto\u2019s [Jacopo Robusti] palette of lost colors. Strength and grace, architectural marvels and the mystery of whispered tales permeate the grounds with the power of transformative artistry,\u201d she muses.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Aline<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAline Asmar d\u2019Amman <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOrient Express<\/p>\n

\n\tAs this is the 21st century, there will be some contemporary accents, like the photography of Sheila Metzner, who once worked with Lagerfeld on a Fendi campaign in the 90s and whom Asmar d\u2019Amman contacted specifically for this project. Elsewhere, there will be a salute to one of Lagerfeld\u2019s favourite catwalk muses, and one of Venice\u2019s most revered residents, Luisa, Marchesa Casati Stampa di Soncino. Casati Stampa di Soncino inhabited Peggy Guggenheim\u2019s former home Palazzo Venier dei Leoni and infused Venice with 1920s glamour, wild parties with big band music and monkeys and filled it with famous guests like her lover, poet Gabriele D\u2019Annunzio and visual artist Man Ray.<\/p>\n

\n\tLagerfeld\u2019s memory and key advice was also with her throughout this project, especially when tackling the most complicated challenges. \u201cWe would spend hours on details or designing something and then, he always used to say\u00a0\u2018corriger est plus important que faire\u2019 quoting [Charles Pierre] Baudelaire. It\u2019s a certain \u00e9tat d\u2019esprit or mindset that means reworking relentlessly is more important than just doing it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Painted<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPainted ceilings inside the Orient Express Palazzo Don\u00e0 Giovannelli. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Orient Express<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growing up during the Lebanese Civil War, famed architect and designer Aline Asmar d\u2019Amman was often cozied in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,366,18,117,19,17,371,27468,34800],"class_list":{"0":"post-46797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-italy","18":"tag-karl-lagerfeld","19":"tag-wwd-weekend-hospitality"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}