Venice, according to Luca De Michelis, chief executive of Marsilio Arte, is best understood through its quieter addresses: a restored Renaissance chamber, a glass workshop near the Accademia, a garden on Giudecca, and a handful of places where daily ritual still feels inseparable from the city’s cultural life.
De Michelis’s favorite historic site is Palazzo Grimani, whose Tribuna he describes as a rare gem. Restored to its original splendor with support from Venetian Heritage, the room gathers valuable marbles into an interior that turns the Renaissance art of collecting into architecture. It is the kind of space that does not simply display history; it stages it.
For shopping, he points to Micheluzzi Glass, near the Gallerie dell’Accademia. The workshop is carried on by the daughters of Murano glassmaker Massimo Micheluzzi, who continue his legacy through sculptural forms and refined textures. The recommendation reflects a broader Venetian truth: in this city, craftsmanship is not a side note to culture but one of its central languages.
De Michelis also names the Gardens of the Church of the Redeemer on Giudecca as a hidden gem. Lovingly restored with support from the Venice Gardens Foundation, the site offers an expansive, contemplative landscape where contemporary art and nature meet without strain. For food, he recommends Antiche Carampane, a few steps from the Rialto Bridge, as a steadfast address for authentic Venetian cuisine. For a spritz, he chooses Codroma in Dorsoduro, where cicchetti are served in the local tradition and the atmosphere still carries the neighborhood’s older rhythm.
Among newer destinations, he highlights the Dries Van Noten Foundation, recently opened in the 15th-century Palazzo Pisani Moretta. He describes it as an immersive encounter with the Belgian designer’s aesthetic, and one that may become a new center of gravity for lifestyle and creativity.
He also singles out San Giorgio Maggiore as a cultural hub, home to Cini Foundation, Stanze del Vetro, and the newly opened Stanze della Fotografia. Every two years, the island also hosts Homo Faber, the Michelangelo Foundation’s celebration of craftsmanship.
The exhibition he is most eager to see is Strange Rules at Palazzo Diedo’s Berggruen Arts & Culture. Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, the project looks at aesthetics at the intersection of new technologies, AI, and artistic creation — a fitting subject for a city that has always balanced preservation with reinvention.
