DD724 and DD694

Your basket is empty

EVERYTHING IS DESIGNED DOWN TO THE LAST INCH by architect Mauro Mazzolini at DD724. This artfully named boutique B&B (actually its address – Dorsoduro 724 – reduced to the bare essentials). Designer cool reigns here, and if the city’s banquet of brocade and Baroque is in danger of giving you overload, the crisp geometric lines, white walls and ultra-contemporary style of DD724 could be just the thing.

Discreetly hidden by a heavy swirly wrought-iron door, it’s tucked into an alleyway just off the Dorsoduro, minutes from the Guggenheim art museum and Accademia Bridge. Rooms overlook a tapestry of Venetian backstreet windows and rooftops, while inside all is supremely modern and über-chic. Owner Chiara Bocchini is passionate about design, as the eye catching modern artworks and books on design testify.

DD724's high-tech sound systems and flat-screen TVs, brown leather bedheads, specially woven bed throws, clever lighting, and black mosaic-tiled (if snug) bathrooms stocked with plenty of lotions and potions work together with style and panache.

DD694 makes its debut

Steaming coffee, sugary cornetti and four kinds of honey make breakfast worth getting up for. Art fiends can head straight for the ground-breaking Guggenheim, and the afternoon tea is worth coming back for, too.

DD fans now have a bigger choice of pillows to lay their heads on, with the opening of sister property DD694 just a few doors away. There's a luxury suite here with five wide windows overlooking the canal and the lovely Campiello Barbaro.

Echoing the contemporary, lightly accented design of its namesake, it shares the same chic and understated style and has a beautiful bathroom with luminous shower and twin basins. An adjacent deluxe room (a twin, though it can be turned into a double) has canalside windows and a travertine stone bathroom.