Casa Flora is the latest, ambitious project of the Romanelli family. It brings the family’s hospitality tradition into a contemporary design space with a clear vision: to create a new way of staying, living and being in Venice. A house where the warm, personalised welcome of a boutique hotel merges with the autonomy of a private home. A place where local culture, craftsmanship and creativity converge.
Behind it is a family story and vision of hospitality that goes back more than 60 years ago. It was 1965 when, just a stone’s throw from St Mark’s, Hotel Flora opened its doors. Founded by Diana and Alessandro Romanelli together with their son Ruggero, the hotel—with its damask-lined rooms and period furnishings—quickly became, thanks in part to Ruggero’s flair, a cherished landmark in Venetian hospitality. Distinguished from the city’s many hotels by its warmth and eclectic circle of guests, it soon earned a devoted following.
The legacy of Hotel Flora has since been passed down through the generations to Gioele, who, together with his wife Heiby, created Novecento in 2002—a charming nine-room, ethno-chic hideaway where their own vision, and their desire to offer a more tailored kind of stay, first took shape.
From here, Gioele and Heiby began to define a new idea of hospitality as a narrative, culture-rich exchange between the city and those who visit it. This vision first found expression in Inside Venice—a digital editorial project dedicated to sharing the city through stories, itineraries, interviews, perspectives, and collaborations with artisans, locals, and creatives—and later, in 2017, in Casa Flora: a fully bespoke, Italian-designed home where the space itself becomes an experience. In time, Casa Flora flourished into more than just a home or a place to stay: it became a space of exchange, reflection, and creation, hosting workshops, editorial projects, residencies, and collaborations with artists, designers, and creative brands.
Today, mindful of the heritage built over time and continuing to nurture the relaxed atmosphere, artistic sensibility, and creative partnerships that have long defined their family, Gioele and Heiby have created By Romanelli Family—a boutique brand that unites all these projects under one identity, renewing and reimagining the idea of hospitality through a contemporary lens and a renewed outlook on the city of Venice.
