The vaporetto from San Marco takes four minutes. Airelles Palladio, Venezia is waiting on the other side.
Giudecca has always been the island that Venice kept for itself. No cruise ships dock here. The streets narrow quickly into quiet. On Fondamenta Zitelle, the buildings face across the water toward the Doge's Palace and say nothing. The French hotel group Airelles has chosen to open its first property outside France here, inside a complex of restored late-16th-century buildings that once housed the Bauer Palladio hotel. The choice says a great deal about how they intend to proceed.
Airelles Palladio, Venezia opened in April 2026 with 45 rooms and suites, three restaurants, five bars, a spa and swimming pools. The French hotel group has operated properties in Courchevel, Gordes and Versailles. Venice is their first reach beyond the borders of France, and they have spent the time between announcement and opening making sure the result justifies the ambition.
Santa Maria della Presentazione
The site includes the deconsecrated church of Santa Maria della Presentazione, a late-16th-century structure whose interior Christophe Tollemer has converted into one of the hotel's most atmospheric public spaces. Tollemer, who served as the architect and interior designer for the entire project, treats the building's sacred geometry as a gift rather than a constraint. The proportions remain. The volume is unchanged. What fills it now is warmth: a palette of deep amber, mahogany and midnight blue, terrazzo and marble underfoot, Rubelli wall coverings, and the kind of silence that comes from stone walls two feet thick.
The Bauer Palladio itself dates to the same period. Airelles has restored both structures with the care that comes from working at length with Venetian artisans who understand the difference between renovation and repair. The original architectural character survives. What surrounds it is new.
Interior, Airelles Palladio, Venezia. Design by Christophe Tollemer. Photo: Vincent Leroux / Wallpaper*
Fortuny, Murano, Rubelli
Tollemer's material choices are Venetian in origin and uncompromising in execution. Custom Fortuny chandeliers hang in the public rooms, their pleated silk throwing a particular amber light that changes the temperature of a space entirely. Murano glass appears throughout, in pieces selected rather than commissioned; each has a history. The wall coverings are Rubelli, the Venetian textile house that has been producing fabric for palazzi and churches since 1858. Together they give every room the impression of staying inside a noble house rather than a hotel.
The 45 rooms and suites follow this logic completely. Hand-selected antiques sit alongside custom furnishings. The views reach either across the water toward the Zattere and San Marco, or inward toward the garden, where old growth pines give shade in summer. The COMO Suite concept has no equivalent here; every room is distinct, and the distinctions are deliberate.
Giudecca receives you differently. There is no performance here, no crowd waiting at the landing stage. Just the island, the water, and the light.
Margaux DelacroixOn the water
Three restaurants and five bars across the property give Airelles Palladio a dining depth unusual even by Venetian standards. The terrace that faces San Marco draws on what the lagoon offers seasonally. Cuttlefish arrives in spring. In summer the tables fill early and stay full until midnight. The kitchen treats local suppliers as collaborators rather than vendors, a distinction that shows in the cooking.
The spa occupies part of the garden complex, where the grounds extend to the water's edge. Swimming pools, both indoor and outdoor, are set into the landscape with enough stone between them and the canal that privacy is maintained without the sense of enclosure. From certain angles, the view across to the Zattere is unobstructed. From others, the garden pines block everything and what you have is simply water and sky.
Airelles operates three other properties, all in France: Les Airelles in Courchevel, Domaine de Murtoli in Corsica, and Le Grand Controle at Versailles. Each has a distinct personality rooted in its location. Venice follows this pattern. Giudecca is not a backdrop. It is the reason for the hotel's particular character, and Tollemer's interiors acknowledge that constantly.
Airelles Palladio, Venezia opened April 2026. Book via airelles.com.
Photography by Vincent Leroux — courtesy of Wallpaper*