Al Ponte Antico

With its padded reception desk, festooned curtains and lashings of brocade in public spaces and most of the bedrooms, the family-run Al Ponte Antico takes the traditional Venetian hotel decor idiom and turns it into something over-the-top, Louis Quinze-ish and faintly decadent: a pleasant change from the prudish norm. In a 16th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal, with views over the Rialto Bridge, Al Ponte Antico’s exquisite little balcony overlooks the water, as do some doubles and suites. Owner-manager Matteo Peruch will make you feel totally at home from the moment you arrive, and the breakfasts here are famous and feted.