In the little courtyard behind the Teatro La Fenice there is a low, pink façade completely upholstered in black iron: dozens of cannonballs embedded in the wall, lined up along the top like buds, gathered in pyramids at the sides of the doorway. And between one window and the next, inserted lengthwise, three whole bombards. It is not the bizarre taste of a hotelier: it is a monument — perhaps the most unusual in Venice.