When the sun shines, it’s glorious. The alleyways, quaysides and canals are quiet; the locals are relaxed. The low slanting light glitters like diamonds on the surface of the water and reflects on to cracked marble and weathered brick, infusing dilapidation with beauty. On a good day, winter is the most wonderful time to explore the world’s most beautiful city.

But when the rain comes, or the fog descends, or the icy tramontane wind whips down from the Dolomites, the damp and bitter cold of a Venetian winter eats into your bones. The views are gone; beauty sleeps. You might be tempted to despair of your weekend break.

Cheer up. In Venice, bad weather simply presents an opportunity. What makes this such an extraordinary city is not just those near miraculous views of stone-encrusted palaces and churches shimmering like mirages on the water, but what’s inside them. And the fascinating thing about indoor Venice is just how much the decorative aesthetics of the opulent ballrooms and painted salons, the glittering mosaics and airy frescoes, have changed over time.

Here is a winter-warming guide to five different eras of this amazing city’s amazing past. 

Medieval glitter

The early centuries of the republic were Venice’s greatest moment. Its trading and maritime power surged and peaked from the 10th to the 15th century, so that by 1400 it was the richest city in Europe. Of course, few interiors have survived over the intervening 600 years – there have been too many later adaptations. But you do have one of the greatest treats of all to enjoy: the 12th-13th century interior of St Mark’s Basilica (basilicasanmarco.it). The walls are encrusted with gold tesserae and monumental figures from the Bible, and the mosaic floor, now buckled with age, a dazzling scheme of geometric patterns and fabulous beasts.

You get a good sense of the interior architectural layout of a medieval palazzo in the Ca’ D’Oro (polomusealeveneto.beniculturali.it), which was built between 1428 and 1430 on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge. It was heavily restored in the 19th century, but in a relatively sympathetic way, and is now an art museum (with works from the Middle Ages and later). Some original features survive, like the ornate coffered ceiling in the chapel, the open loggia on the piano grande, which overlooks the canal and arcaded water gate, and the colonnaded interior atrium and courtyard.

Renaissance exotica

Confidence still infused the Venetians in the 16th century – it saw itself as a cultural rival to Rome and Florence, aggrandising its palazzos and championing artists such as Titian and Tintoretto. My favourite renaissance palazzo by a long way is the Grimani (polomusealeveneto.beniculturali.it). It is off the tourist track, always quiet and beautifully restored and presented.

The great attractions are the airy 16th-century frescoes and stucco decorations which were added when the building was aggrandised from the 1560s. The rooms are decorated according to different classical themes – one devoted to Apollo and one to Callisto for example and the vaulted tribune hall was built to house the great family collection of antique sculpture. Best of all – and decorated slightly later – is the Sala a Fogliami, where the ceiling is frescoed with a forest of exotic birds, plants and trees – from lemons and pomegranates to species recently imported from the New World, such as tobacco and maize.

For an even more intense scheme of interior decoration, Tintoretto’s epic scheme of Biblical ceiling and wall paintings in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco is one of the high points of renaissance art (scuolagrandesanrocco.org).

Pleasure palaces

By the 18th century, Venice’s civic and economic power had dissipated. The city of Casanova, Vivaldi, Canaletto and Goldoni was now a pleasure resort – a stopover for young, lustful aristocrats from the north on their grand tour of Italy. But it was still a splendid place to party. And the greatest party palazzo of them all is the Ca’ Rezzonico (carezzonico.visitmuve.it), which was completed in the 1750s and has one of the largest and most imposing facades on the Grand Canal. Now a museum of the 18th century, the vast reception rooms – with highly polished terrazzo floors, extravagant Murano chandeliers and ceilings frescoed by Tiepolo – are home to the greatest collection of Venetian art of the time.

The Ca’ Rezzonico is temporarily closed for restoration, but if it hasn’t reopened when you visit Venice, try instead the Casa di Carlo Goldoni (carlogoldoni.visitmuve.it). This is the house, in the San Polo sestiere (district), where the great comic playwright and librettist was born into a middle-class Venetian family in 1707. Furnished in the style of the times, the rooms are arranged to evoke scenes from his plays.  

Royal opulence

The 19th century was not Venice’s proudest moment. The city became an emperor’s plaything, conquered by Napoleon, who remodelled St Mark’s Square, and then re-absorbed into the Austro-Hungarian empire. The Habsburgs converted what is now the Correr Museum (correr.visitmuve.it) on the south side of the Piazza into their private residence, and it was turned over to the Savoy Kings when Venice became part of Italy in 1866.

After years of restoration, the final nine of a suite of 20 royal apartments, which were decorated in the last half of the century, opened to the public last summer. The furnishings and decorative scheme varies from light and airy to rich, plush and decadent and includes an elaborate room in Ottoman Turkish style commissioned by Maximilian of Austria, and a state bedroom made for King Victor Emmanuel II to celebrate the 1866 unification. The newly-opened rooms can only be seen on a pre-booked private tour (correr.visitmuve.it).

Modern minimalism

Venice’s architect hero in the last century was Carlo Scarpa. Born here in 1906, he was a master of understated modernist design and is partly responsible for the restrained and stylish aesthetic that we still admire in Italian architects and designers today. Gifted at adapting and restoring historic buildings and interiors – especially in Venice – his work goes unnoticed by the vast majority of tourists. Yet you can see it even in St Mark’s Square, where he oversaw a subtle transformation of the Olivetti Showroom in the north arcade ().

On the opposite side of the Piazza, Scarpa also did a wonderful job designing the picture galleries of the Correr Museum and also oversaw the restoration of that Accademia Gallery (gallerieaccademia.it).

But perhaps his most impressive intervention is the ground floor of the Querini Stampalia (querinistampalia.org) – a 16th-century palace, now an art museum and study centre – near the Campo Santa Maria Formosa. Scarpa turned the regular risk of flooding into an asset, allowing the water into the lower storey, which he opened out to provide a view through to a Zen-like garden at the back of the building.

How to do it

Nick Trend was a guest of the St Regis Hotel (00 39 041 240 0001; marriott.co.uk), comprised of two former palazzi on the Grand Canal, which has recently been restored in homage to the style of Carlo Scarpa. Doubles start at £660, including a private Carlo Scarpa tour

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