A luxurious, expertly designed loft with high-end amenities with a spacious 70m2 private courtyard in a 12th century palazzo in the heart of Venice. A haven of contemporary design and refined style with maid service every second day. A unique blend of ancient and modern, this two-bed loft offers luxurious accommodation in the heart of Cannaregio, Venice’s most vibrant neighborhood. Comprising the meticulously renovated ground floor and courtyard of a 12th century palazzo, the spacious flat offers cutting-edge facilities, four-metre ceilings, designer interiors and a stunning private courtyard space for dining and relaxing al fresco. Inspired by the design of Japanese skinny houses, the designer was keen to make clever use of the palazzo’s narrow spaces, ensuring a clean flow of light and movement, generous communal areas and long sight lines that give a sense of continuity to the space. At the heart of the apartment is a "smart-living core", in which key functions - the bathroom, laundry, wardrobes and a study - line up along a central corridor, wrapped by floor-to-ceiling panels, to free up the rest of the space. The core’s walls and ceiling are mirrored to increase the sense of depth and celebrate the apartment's elongated proportions, while the dimmable backlit ceiling transforms the atmosphere from bright and breezy to intimate and atmospheric at a touch. At one end of the core, the four-seater dining space opens onto the courtyard via the glazed double doors of a statement arch, where an ‘outdoor living room’ with stripped-back brickwork and modular lounging chairs offers a flexible, airy arrangement designed with socialising in mind. Turn the other way down the corridor, and you find a 30m² open bedroom/living space in a pared-back palette, its dusky pink textured plaster referencing traditional Venetian graffiato. The furnishings are a celebration of iconic Italian design, featuring a bed and chaise lounge by Antonio Citterio, lighting by Tobia Scarpa, and a bespoke, floor-to-ceiling modernist bookshelf that pays homage to the Carrara and Verde delle Alpi marbles that have been synonymous with the Venetian Republic throughout the centuries. The hidden entrance to the bathroom, which blends into the wardrobe panels, opens up to a generous 2m² shower with an extra large rainfall shower head. The original door to the street has been repurposed with a frosted glass window set in a wooden screen, maximizing natural light while ensuring privacy. Separating the living and dining spaces, the fully stacked kitchen offers a sleek run of high-end appliances and countertops in polished brass, designed to offer maximum function with minimum fuss. Materials focus on glass, brass, plaster and marble to combine organic lustre with minimalist modernity, while the floor is made from bespoke cotto bricks, hand-crafted in Tuscany by the 500-year-old Fornace Stefani, that celebrate the industrial and craft-heavy history of the maritime city. As a finishing touch, a bespoke Fornasetti mosaic created as a collaboration between Fornasetti, Bisazza and the designer provides a playful focal point in an otherwise exquisitely calm and contemplative space. 50m2 loft plus a 70m2 private courtyard in a 12th century palazzo in the heart of Canareggio, just 7 minutes from Rialto Bridge.