Shopping: all our addresses
Shops and boutiques in the heart of Venice
Il Prato
Those who like animals, especially in the strangest shapes, can’t afford to forgo a visit to the Il Prato workshop in Venice, specialised in writing materials. The frog and the basset hound, the two new decorations proposed for the season, join the beloved butterflies, to decorate and cover agendas, diaries, notebooks and everything else that goes on a desk. Here everything is rigorously made according to tradition on precious Venetian paper, finely worked by hand using techniques from the sixteenth century, and coloured with vegetable dyes.
Il Prato
Calle de le Ostreghe 2436, San Marco, Venice
Jesurum
A synonym of luxury since 1868, Jesurum is a wellspring of embroidered trousseaux and authentic Burano lace. Table, bed and bath linen that reinterprets ancient patterns and original colours, or reinvents symbols of the city. Like the lion of St Mark, featured in the latest collection, “Moresco”.
Jesurum
4857 San Marco, Venice
Il Caffè del Doge
Exotic aromas in the heart of Rialto, where the Caffè del Doge is opening in the spring. An artisanal torrefazione where you can sample and purchase “I Caffè delle Stagioni”, four varieties of pure Arabica coffee, roasted by the owners according to the old processing methods.
Il Caffè del Doge
Calle dei Cinque, San Polo 609, Venice
Venetia Studium
Meticulously pleated silks, printed and damasked velvets, shimmering clouds of fabric that slide lightly beneath the touch… They are the soul of scarves, shawls, capes and handbags embellished with tiny pearls and silk threads that come out of the Venetia Studium workshops in very limited edition. A place of temptations that for twenty years, in the sales outlets opened around Piazza San Marco, has been attracting a parade of movie stars and socialites from all over the world.
Venetia Studium
San Marco 723, merceria San Zulian, Venice
Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua
Upholster your sofa like the one at the White House or the Swedish Royal Palace. Costly, perhaps, but not impossible. All you need to do is get an appointment, make your way to Santa Croce, a few steps away from the Ponte dell’Accademia, and pay a visit to the workshop of Luigi Bevilacqua. A nineteenth-century weaving shop where the silk is woven on mechanical wooden frames to replicate décors from the Romanesque to Art Deco, with over three thousand original patterns. Brocades and soprarizzo velvets embellished with gold and silver threads can be purchased right away, while damasks and more complex processes sometimes require a bit of patience. A wait well worth the small sacrifice.
Antica Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua
Santa Croce 1320, Venice
The Venetian Carnival– Atelier Nicolao
What kind of disguise should guests wear? Those who prefer tradition and ignore the year’s theme dress in classic Venetian costumes, inspired by characters from the folk theatre of the Commedia dell’Arte. From the surly merchant Pantalone in his black cloak and red jacket to the gentle Colombine, who wears no mask, it’s a frothy confection of lace and frills. A dark mantle and beaked mask identifies the sinister Plague Doctor, while the multicoloured diamond pattern blouse and leggings are the unmistakable symbol of cheerful Harlequin, the cunning, perpetually hungry servant.
Once the costume has been chosen, it can even be ordered over the Internet – simply state size and preferences. This service is offered by Atelier Nicolao in Sestiere di Cannaregio, which hires out costumes in a wide range of styles, down to simple cloaks with tricorn hats.
Atelier Nicolao
Cannaregio, 2590, Venice
www.nicolao.com