#daniel mollloy is a bougie bitch you heard it here first

[apoptoses]

“In Venice, he’d looked out of his room at the Danieli, to see Armand staring from a window across the way.“

The hotel Daniel checks into early in his and Armand’s relationship, the Danieli, is fascinating.

The original structure was built in the 14th century by the wealthy Dandolo family, and then later in the 16th century was divided into three separate sections for different members of the family. It was turned into a hotel in 1822, and joined with two other grand buildings: Palazzo Casa Nuova (previously the site of the Venetian treasury) and the Palazzo Danieli Excelsior (a building erected in 1948 when a structure separating the Palazzo Dandolo and Palazzo delle Prigioni was torn down to make way for the expansion of the hotel).

It’s situated near the entrance of the grand canal, the same canal Marius and Armand lived on together, and overlooks the lagoon.

When you walk inside it looks like this:

The grand steps into the palace, which were once outdoors, are now inside, protected by a great 19th century glass ceiling.

The front desk is made of beautifully carved, renaissance style linenfold paneling, retaining the original design of the hotel from 1822.

Every common area in the hotel is pure luxury, filled with antique furniture and artwork. And the rooms themselves?

Decorated in a baroque-meets-victorian style, every single one is to die for.

Even the simpler rooms are beautifully attired.

In the book, however, it says that Daniel sees Armand in a window across the canal. I did some digging to figure out exactly which canal it would have been talking about and which rooms have that view (and thus exactly how much luxury Daniel would have been treating himself to)

The canal view rooms are some of the more expensive rooms. While not as ostentatious as the suites with their mural ceilings, they’re still listed just a tier below the suites. Through the balcony door there you can see the windows Armand might have been in. Across the canal is a more budget friendly hotel, the Venice Ca’Rosy.

The canal Daniel’s room overlooked is a lovely place all on its own. In this photo the Danieli is on the left, the Ca Rosy is on the right.

Current prices for rooms at the Danieli start at $700/night. Unfortunately the Danieli has changed ownership and will temporarily close in January, and undergo ‘extensive renovations’ over the next two years. What that means for the decor it’s hard to say.

I think it says something interesting about Daniel that he stayed here. When he had the money from his advance for Interview in his pocket he ate at the Copley (within another luxury hotel that he possibly was staying at) and then chose a hotel that’s amongst the priciest in Venice and paid for one of their finest rooms. It makes you question whether Armand introduced him to an expensive lifestyle or if he always had a taste for fine things, just sometimes when his life was falling apart he couldn’t afford them.

(There’s also the fun question of did Armand not speak to him in Venice because this is a building he has memories in but that’s a whole other meta post)