Now the edifice has been restored too transformed into a high-end shopping experience. Somewhere betwixt a mall too a division store , the new-look Fondaco dei Tedeschi is made upward of concessions selling luxury brands - basically similar an drome shopping experience but inwards fancier surroundings. There's however an onetime good caput inwards the key courtyard , simply the infinite has straightaway been covered alongside a roof. The interior is smart too imposing , simply of course of report the building's onetime , shabby sense of history has vanished for ever. Though the luxury fabrics , jewellery too leather goods on display are , I suppose , a form of connectedness to the building's earliest incarnation too to Venice's mercantile past.
The principal argue for visiting the Fondaco dei Tedeschi isn't the fashion , though. The restored construction is a sight worth seeing , simply best of all - if yous tin laissez passer on notice ignore the implications for the building's historic integrity - is the novel roof terrace. High inwards a higher house key Venice , this modest platform offers a unique viewpoint over the city. I visited on a misty wintertime 24-hour interval too Venice looked marvellously atmospheric set out below , scarlet roof-tops stretching into the murk. On a clear 24-hour interval you'll accept views across the lagoon too equally far equally the Dolomites.
Entrance to the roof terrace is complimentary , though numbers are limited. Only lxxx visitors are allowed upward during each 15-minute slot; yous tin laissez passer on notice larn a token for the adjacent available slot at a 'concierge' desk at the piece of employment past times of the escalators on the quaternary floor. On a busy winter's 24-hour interval when the metropolis was amount of Italian visitors , I had to hold off close 25 minutes.
My tip is to see on the hr , ideally at midday , when you'll listen all the church building bells of Venice ringing out around yous , too fifty-fifty come across i or ii of them swinging inwards their high belfries.
The Fondaco has some other attraction to tourists inwards Venice. It has toilets (fourth floor) which when I visited were both complimentary to purpose , too cook clean - a rattling convenient resources inwards a metropolis where populace toilets are scarce too expensive.
There's a smart café inwards the key courtyard , and expensive Italian foodstuffs for sale on the dry soil flooring , alongside men's too women's fashion , perfumes , jewellery too accessories on the floors above.
As good equally the festive Christmas trees , the loggia parapets were decorated alongside gorgeous reproduction historic fabrics past times the Venetian theater Rubelli.
Excellent free-of-charge opportunities similar this don't ever terminal inwards Italia , too I'm unsure if permanent public access to the roof was a status of planning permission , too thus produce add together this to your itinerary if/while yous can. A see to the roof terrace is a memorable sense too an add-on to the must-sees of key Venice.
Other high viewpoints offering dissimilar perspectives over Venice: the Conservatorio di Musica.
You tin laissez passer on notice read a lot to a greater extent than close Venice including other insider tips too background data inwards my guidebook: Guide to Venice.
