The Gritti Palace

The Gritti Palace, Venice’s most celebrated hotel, reopened in March 2013 after a renovation that took 15 months and cost £36.5 million. Owned by The Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts, part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. it occupies a prestigious location on the Grand Canal close to St Mark’s and opposite the Salute, one of Venice’s finest churches.

The Gritti’s palazzo was built for the aristocratic Pisani family in 1475. It was then acquired and extended by Andrea Gritti, doge of Venice between 1523 and 1538. For around 350 years thereafter it remained a private residence, becoming a hotel in in 1948. Ernest Hemingway was one of the first guests. Other guests over the years have included just about every famous visitor who ever came to Venice, including Churchill, Bogart, Chaplin, Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly, and more recently – Pacino, Pitt, Jolie, Cruise, De Niro and Woody Allen.

Brintons supplied custom axminster carpets for the exquisitely refurbished guest rooms, which are inspired by past guests like Hemingway, Ruskin and Peggy Guggenheim. Rooms feature a traditional Venetian décor and include pieces restored from the original property as well as reinterpreted antiques. Brintons also supplied carpet for the corridors and a runner for the imposing marble staircase.