Pierre Cardin, the father of 1960s fashion futurism, meets ancient Venice in the form of a plexi-glass gondola. Today, it has been moved to the back of the courtyard in Cardin’s palazzo to make way for guests who will arrive the following evening for a party in his large garden.

Much of the city’s magic happens behind closed doors and Palazzo Bragadin in the Santa Croce district is no exception. Behind a large door on a narrow street and through the garden, a spectacular portico with colonnades marks the beginning of a double staircase that leads upstairs to the piano nobile — the first floor. It opens into a grand reception hall, with chandeliers and an 18th-century terrazzo marble floor.

Cardin, 97, is waiting in an armchair in an adjoining sitting room, where the walls are decorated with four original works by Pietro Longhi, the 18th-century Venetian master painter of social and domestic life.