TRAVEL: Heaven and High Water
Venice is Europe’s most romantic city; the Bauer Il Palazzo and Paladdio hotels are Venetian palaces. Together, the experience is out of this world.
 VENICE, drifting like a mirage within its watery realm, is the world’s most unreal city: beautiful, mysterious, an assault on the senses, itself assaulted by water. Thronged with palaces, churches and courtyards, it is like walking through a vast museum whose landscape changes with the tides and the ebb and flow of people.
‘You live like seabirds,’ wrote the Roman prefect Cassiodorus in AD537. ‘It seems as if you glide over the fields, because from afar one cannot distinguish the canals beneath the wetlands.’ In fact, in winter the Venetians might be compared to waders. As the water level rises, they don rubber boots and, irritated, carry on with their daily lives. It is one good reason to visit Venice soon; there are many others.
Always when day-dreaming of Venice, the luminous, liquid paintings by Canaletto drift into mind. Not only water sets this city-scape apart, but architecture—rising from those translucent blues and greys are the domes of Byzantine churches, the pale Gothic palaces with fret- ted windows framed by arches, the marble of the High Renaissance, and the Baroque. Behind the finery and grandeur lie the small mysteries of Venice, its labyrinthine streets and cobbled passageways, and its unique pleasures, from gondola rides on the Grand Canal to sipping a Bellini in Harry’s Bar or choosing a piece of Murano glass.
At the heart of this bewitching city is Piazza San Marco. Described by Napoleon as ‘the drawing room of Europe’, and known by the locals as simply ‘the Piazza’, as if there were no other, San Marco is crowded with people—blissfully, Venice’s centre can be penetrated only by water—and with some of the most famous buildings in the world. At its head is the Basilica di San Marco, which glitters with gold leaf and ancient art. Equally impressive, the Doge’s Palace, built in the 14th century, was home of the elected leader of the Venetian Republic. Inside this fascinating, macabre building is the prison cell from which Casanova escaped in 1756, leaving behind his captors’ torture chambers and secret passages.
Underneath the arches on the south side of the Piazza is Caffé Florian, a Venetian institution since 1720, where Lord Byron, Goethe and Casanova all drank their coffee, the most expensive in Venice. Wagner was a patron; one evening during the Austrian occupation, he and his friends were dining while an orchestra played his overtures. When the music ended, not a single Venetian in the Piazza applauded.
 The Grand Canal can be explored by private gondola, but a vaporetto (water bus) will give an equally in-depth tour, and an insight into local culture. As the vaporetto winds its way along the canal, the passengers hop on and off as they please. Along the way is the incomparable Rialto Bridge, built in 1588. Disembark here and experience The Rialto (which means ‘high bank’)—the city’s former commercial powerhouse, where merchants congregated to share stories and trade exotic goods such as silk, spices, coffee and gold. ‘What’s news on The Rialto?’ Shylock asks in The Merchant of Venice, and, at that time, the answer could almost have been anything.
Today, a walk from the Ponte di Rialto to the Pescheria, a 600-year- old fish market, will take in all manner of sights and smells, from the lively central market, selling fresh fruit and vegetables, to Drogheria Mascari, an Aladdin’s cave of tea, coffee and spices.
Fortify yourself with a bowl of squid and cuttlefish risotto—a traditional Venetian dish which uses black squid ink as its sauce—at the trattoria Alla Madonna, and a bottle of local wine, the white Tocai di Lison or the red, Merlot di Pramaggiore.
Also on this vaporetto route are two of the finest galleries in Venice, The Accademia and The Peggy Guggenheim Collection. The Accademia is a tribute to Venetian High Renaissance, and its recently restored 14th C ceiling, with its smiling cherubs, is truly divine. The Guggenheim is in stark contrast, showing modern works by Jackson Pollock and Marc Chagall. But Venice is a city to become part of, not simply a place to stand and stare. You can time your visit to coincide with Carnivale, held in the 10-day period before Lent, where the people take to the streets in masked glory—but a more authentic, less tourist-infiltrated option is the Festa del Rententore on the third Sunday in July, or the Festa della Salute on November 21.
The internationally renowned Venice Biennale encompasses the annual International Film Festival (August and September), the International Art Exhibition (June to November) and the International Architecture Exhibition (September to November), as well as the Festival of Contemporary Music (September to October), the Festival of Theatre (September) and the Festival of Contemporary Dance (June to July). The Regatta Storica, the annual race for the city’s gondoliers, happens each year on the first Sunday in September.
As to music, not only Vivaldi and Wagner, but Stravinsky and Britten composed here, and the city is a centre for chamber music. Its opera house burned down in 1995, but the Fenice company continues to present opera, ballet, symphony and choral concerts (and, in winter, free recitals by world-class performers).
Avoid buying concert tickets from people dressed in silly Vivaldi costumes, but you can confidently sample La Societa Ven-eziana di Concerti, which organises seasons of chamber music by international performers at the restored Teatro Malibran. Go to the festival of baroque music at Scuola Grande di San Rocco, to be transported by music among acres of Tintoretto’s paintings. Or take a private jet service to Verona for an opera at the Arena, the third largest surviving Roman amphitheatre.
Much of the pleasure of this bewitching city lies in wandering through the traffic-free streets with no clear destination in mind. Wind your way through the narrow streets and over the footbridges spanning the canals. Find yourself on a back street, where wives have hung laundry out to dry between balconies. This, too, is the true Venice, the most romantic city in the world.
THE HOTELS
Francesca Bortolotto Possati returned to Italy in 1977 to run her grandfather’s Bauer-Grunwald hotel, an 18th-century palace. She split the building into two smaller hotels, L’Hotel and Il Palazzo, and invested multi-millions in the restoration of both. Then, on Guidecca Island, she created the Bauer Palladio Hotel & Spa. As members, you have special rates at all three hotels.
IL PALAZZO
Possati has turned Il Palazzo into a palatial boutique hotel. At the end of the Grand Canal, a two-minute walk from Piazza San Marco, the 44 bedrooms and 38 suites are decorated in grand style with tapestry wall hangings, antique furnishings and Murano glass chandeliers.
Several of the rooms have terraces, and most have views of the canal. There is also a fitness room and health spa, and a Jacuzzi with rooftop views over Venice and the lagoon.
At canal-level, the De Pisis restaurant serves gourmet dinners. Breakfast is in Settimo Ciele (Seventh Heaven), which has superb views over the canals to the top of the Campanile.
The Offer
An all-inclusive two-night stay in a Deluxe suite, including full buffet breakfasts, a four-course dinner in the De Pisis restaurant (beverages excluded), a Secrets of Venice private guided tour, and check-out at 4pm (subject to availability) costs members 596€ (£467 at current exchange rates) per person or, for the palatial Executive suite, 1,300€ (£1,019).
L’HOTEL
Overlooking the church of Campo San Moisè, two minutes’ walk from Piazza San Marco, L’Hotel is a famous 1940s landmark designed to emulate a docking ship. Its 20th-century style has been recreated by Possati, with the addition of state-of-the-art business facilities including Wifi. L’Hotel has 91 bedrooms and 18 suites, many with views over the rooftops of Venice. Spectacular aspects of the Grand Canal and the Chiesa della Salute can be seen while breakfasting or sipping cocktails on the terrace.
The Offer
An all-inclusive two-night stay in a Deluxe room, including full buffet breakfasts, one four-course dinner in De Pisis restaurant (beverages excluded), a Secrets of Venice guided tour, and late check- out at 4pm (subject to availability) costs members 374€ (£295 at current exchange rates) per person for both nights or, for the Superior suite, 500€ (£395). Members save up to 65%. Families stay for two nights in a Family suite for up to four (two adults and two children aged 16 or younger) with daily breakfast buffet, one lunch from the snack menu at the B-Bar, free meals for children aged 12 years and under from the children’s menu when dining with two adults, plus early check-in or late check-out (subject to availability) for a total of 485€ per night for four (£383). The saving for Club members is up to 65%.
PALLADIO HOTEL & SPA
The Bauer Palladio Hotel & Spa on Guidecca Island is fabulous. Venice’s newest all-natural wellness spa and boutique hotel, it is itself part of Venetian history. The original property was one of Andrea Palladio’s famous Renaissance designs, and a sanctuary for unmarried women of virtue and style. Possati has restored and updated the building as a retreat and spa without losing its identity. The 37 guest rooms and 13 suites are spacious and decorated in soft pastels and fine furnishings. Some have garden terraces, others overlook the lagoon, and every room has a spectacular view. The Palladio Bar & Restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner, the Patio Café serves drinks overlooking the garden. The Spa has eight treatment rooms and a relaxation lounge with perhaps the most exceptional view of the lagoon. Says Possati, ‘There is pleasure in living in an ancient building with a religious and secular history in the romantic city of Venice.’
The Offer
A three-night stay for two, with buffet breakfasts daily and four- course dinners on two evenings in the Garden Bar & Restaurant, costs members from 397€ (£311) per Double room per night, with a garden view, and from 506€ (£399) for a Junior suite. You also receive a Spa credit of 200€, Fitness Centre access, bathrobe and sleeper’s gift set, Santa Maria Degli Angeli handmade cosmetics and 4pm late check-out (Junior suites only). Again, the Club saving is up to 65%.
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