If you’re going to overnight in Venice, you might as well stay in a palace right on the Grand Canal. No need for introductions to a noble family — all you have to do is check in at the revived mid-19^th-century Bauer Il Palazzo, a luxury hotel with arched lancet windows, bright doge-red awnings and a Gothic façade, situated right on the water just steps away from iconic Saint Mark’s Square.

Walls of the spacious Old-World rooms are lined in silk fabric surrounding massive beds with crisp, starched linens while cherubs frolic in overhead trompe l’oeil ceilings. Crafted wood antique and reproduction cabinets conceal drawers, a mini bar, safe and flat-screen television offering three dozen channels in assorted Italian, German, Arabic, French and Chinese along with CNN, CNBC Bloomberg, National Geographic and the BBC.

The palatial marble bathroom is fitted with giant terrycloth towels and posh cotton robes and slippers bearing the hotel’s crest. With the touch of a button, the four-way bathtub, encased in a marble base, converts to a personal Jacuzzi. Amenities are by Santa Maria degli Angeli, a firm striving to re-establish Venice’s reputation as a creator of perfumery essences and which employs local female inmates trained to concoct the organic preparations.

Breakfast is served on the elegant indoor and outdoor seventh-floor terrace, with gondolas and vaporettas gliding by on the waters below and amusing pigeons table-hopping for scraps. The compact buffet includes four choices of juice, several types of dry cereal and a selection of fresh fruits, plus scrambled eggs and bacon, pancakes, an array of meats and cheeses, and a choice of breads and cakes.

On the main floor, interconnected public rooms are tastefully furnished in comfortable groupings of tables and club chairs. Two waterfront restaurants offer exquisite views of the ornate façade of Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute across the canal. Bar Canale Grand serves meals all day; and in the more formal De Pisis, Chef Hiraki Maskazu creates trademark international cuisine. Wednesday through Sunday, B Bar converts to a trendy nightclub attracting socialites and celebrities with live music and creative cocktails.

DVDs are available at the desk and efficient WiFi is free. There is a compact business center, and the hotel is pet-friendly but charges an extra €150 (about $170) cleaning charge. Helpful concierges can arrange floral deliveries, on-premise hair appointments and city tours. Fitness rooms located up a winding staircase from the breakfast room are outfitted with Techno Gym cardio machines and weights. Massages, Turkish baths and saunas can be arranged, and a water shuttle takes guests to the hotel’s sister Bauer Palladio Hotel & Spa on nearby Giudecca Island. A map in the room outlines four local jogging trails in Venice and the Lido. Major monuments — Saint  Marks, the Doges Palace and Fenice Opera House — are mere steps away, and a private dock provides convenient access to gondolas and water taxis.

Interconnected to Il Palazzo, the more contemporary sister Bauer Hotel with inland views is decorated with a modern Venetian sensibility and supplies many of the same amenities at somewhat lower rates.

Bauer Il Palazzo

S. Marco 1459
Venice, Italy
tel 39 041 5207022