On the Grand Canal this narrow, traditional palazzetto looks like the little brother of the enormous Palazzo Pisani behind it — and it truly became one: in 1751 Andrea Pisani bought it from the marquis Giovanni Poleni for eight thousand ducats, simply to give the great house that view over the canal the Republic had always denied it. Once the shared wall was pierced, the two buildings became one. The palazzetto has a story worthy of a book: a scientist owner who studied the dome of St Peter’s, a duke of Genoa among the owners, a literary salon frequented by artists and presidents — and today it is a boutique hotel where a film about Casanova was shot.