[CHECK IN] And Look Down in Venice

While the Vanderbilts of the Gilded Age are best known for expertise in railroads and social climbing, they aren't often credited for their contributions to design.

- ISIAH MAGSINO

Terrazzo flooring-a Venetian technique of tossing chipped marble, granite, glass, or quartz in a cement binder that is later ground and polished-became fashionable in the United States after the family installed it in their Fifth Avenue mansion. Unbeknownst to them, this would fuel both a wave of Italian artisan immigration and an aesthetic movement. After the Vanderbilts, terrazzo flooring went on an American tour during the 1900s and was used in projects ranging from the floors of Hoover Dam to the stars on Hollywood Boulevard. The technique was a favorite of the architect Richard Neutra, who used the flooring for his Midcentury Modern Southern California homes.

Nearly 150 years after terrazzo's American debut, the Maestrelli family, from Florence, continues to celebrate its charm in Venice. At their new hotel, Violino d'Oro (opening this fall), Sara Maestrelli and her aunt Elena enlisted the Asin family, one of the oldest floor making clans in Italy, to help bring the property alive. "Every renovation that we have ever done has been with the Asins," says Sara, whose family also owns the Grand Hotel Minerva in Florence and Villa Roma Imperiale in Forte dei Marmi.