Alpitour makes poker in hospitality and in Venice it inaugurates the Ca ‘di Dio, the fourth hotel in the VRetreats collection after the ones in Rome and the two in Taormina, all structures with a common denominator: historic homes, deluxe hospitality for an international clientele. The latest luxury hotel in Venice is designed by Patricia Urquiola, who followed the interior design project and the artistic direction, uniting the two souls of the city in the ancient residence: rigor and refinement, symbols of beauty and a new idea of hospitality. Venice welcomes the new hotel in its narrow streets, in the Castello district along the Riva degli Schiavoni, an address of style and elegance, with a long tradition of hospitality, which has its roots in 1200. It is Ca ‘di Dio, an ancient refuge for pilgrims and women in difficulty who, five hundred years after Jacopo Sansovino’s intervention, today becomes the scene of a rebirth signed by Patricia Urquiola, an internationally renowned architect and interior designer. The link with the territory is strong, with structures crossed by art and culture, in a continuum with the surrounding space thanks to terraces, cloisters and gardens.
The building was taken over by Alpitour World in 2019 and an investment of 25 million was made to give it new life and light. «It is a project in which Alpitour World strongly believed – explains Gabriele Burgio, president and CEO of the Turin group -. An investment that we have carried out, without slowing down, despite the difficult period. As the first Italian reality in the world of travel and hospitality, we have a moral duty to support tourism and spend ourselves first and foremost for our country. This day is a new beginning for us, a symbol that we want to share and that embodies the value of memory and the energy of the future. ”Particular attention was paid to common spaces, places where people meet and relationships are born. The strong sense of welcome is perceived right from the entrance, in the lobby, originally the church and one of the most representative rooms of the entire hotel, where the 14 thousand Murano glass crystals that give life to the double-height ceiling become the protagonists. to the three sails of the precious chandelier. The poetry of Ca ‘di Dio then continues in the reading room, the Alchemia bar and in the hotel’s two restaurants, Essentia and Vero, the latter also open to external guests.
Each space has a material refinement characterized by fabrics, glass, stones and marbles, worked in compliance with the traditions of local workers. To complete the narration of what appears to be a “Venetian house” with intimate hospitality, the two roof terraces, from which to admire all of Venice, and the three gardens obtained from the courtyards and oases of peace in which to reconnect with oneself and the surrounding environment .
Ca ‘di Dio has 66 rooms, including 57 suites and 9 deluxe: most overlook the lagoon, with a view of the island of San Giorgio and Rio Ca’ di Dio. the windows, as if to underline the relationship between inside and outside, custom designed lamps, blown by the masters of glass art: even in the rooms, every detail is delicately inserted into the context and is rewritten in a contemporary key.
«As a designer, I always work towards an inclusive poetics, making the client an active part of the project, so as to give a unique character to each hotel – explains Patricia Urquiola, the architect and interior designer -. The vision with VRetreats was immediately agreed on the final result: Venice had to be the nucleus from which everything would have originated. The attention in the choice of materials, the importance of the genius loci are fundamental elements for me. We have done a great deal of research to enhance the personality of Ca ‘di Dio, without distorting its past, but reinterpreting it in a contemporary way ».