Venice is filled with historic treasures waiting to be explored, not to mention yearly spectacles like the film festival, carnival and the biennales. So why not find yourself a permanent base in the city to enjoy them at a leisurely pace? To help the cause, we’ve picked out five of the best Venice apartments for sale right now, ranging from flats in frescoed palazzos to a modern penthouse.

A frescoed apartment on Santo Stefano

Frescoes abound inside this six-bedroom home, which commandeers an entire floor of a 15th-century palace close to St Mark’s Square – as well as the attic above. Its ceilings and walls were painted by 18th-century Italian artist Pietro Antonio Perotti. Once the home of the French consulate, the Venice property comes with two terraces and private access to a side canal.
€8.9m, via Sotheby’s International Realty

The Venetian home of Friedrich Nietzsche

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote his seminal work Thus Spoke Zarathustra within the 17th-century Palazzo Berlendis, sited at the end of the Rio dei Mendicanti. This four-bedroom apartment on the building’s piano nobile features marble floors, frescoed walls and an 18th-century wooden alcove adorned by painter Francesco Fontebasso. Recent residents include photographers and artists – among them 20th-century sculptor Napoleone Martinuzzi, who decorated the master bathroom with a glass tile and gold leaf mosaic, perfectly preserved today.
€2.5m, via Engel & Voelkers

A bolthole inside the newly converted Palazzo Vendramin

Architect Alberto Torsello has transformed this 15th-century palazzo into 13 apartments, accessed via a fresco-lined hall and a carved stone staircase. Among them is a studio with a large terrace, a two-bedroom piano nobile apartment and a four-bedroom triplex filled with original details. Palazzo Vendramin sits on the Fondamenta de Ca’ Vendramin in the sestiere of Cannaregio, to the north of the city.
From €590,000 to €3.38m, via Savills

Loft living in the heart of Venice

Contemporary design meets historic surrounds at this penthouse, close to St Mark’s Square. Metal columns give the one-bedroom Venice apartment an industrial feel, while wood panelling adds to the midcentury aesthetic. Spanning 170 sq m, the loft comes with two bathrooms and two terraces… in case one won’t suffice.
€1.485m, via Sotheby’s International Realty

A home inside a Byzantine palazzo

Palazzo Grandiben Negri is of Byzantine origin; the ground and first floors hailing from 1350. It faces south, overlooking the Rio Cà di Dio and Fondamenta Morosini. Residents of this four-bedroom Venice apartment for sale on the piano nobile can lap up the canal views from a terrace and balcony. Inside the home, they’ll find light-filled living spaces with high ceilings, frescoes and a red Veronese marble staircase.
€2.3m, via Knight Frank

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