Hotel Venice Spa

Venice, 2010




The New York Times Magazine

Forbes



Dear friends,
I decided to share some of the many hidden secrets behind the doors of my overwhelming and unique city of Venice. In other words, my list of personal favorites and “the best of what to do and see” this month in Venice.

Venice is an enchanting city, with a complex and sometimes conflicting charm. It’s almost impossible to remain unmoved upon your first visit. Aside from a very few people who do not like or appreciate Venice, the majority fall in love without reservation, and discover a love almost obsessive in nature. If you have the pleasure of spending a little more than a few days, you have the joy of reaching around every corner, and it’s in this moment when Venice infects you…almost like a virus that can lead to an incurable passion.
No other city in the world is more exotic. It stimulates many memories with roots so deep in cosmopolitan culture, it’s too difficult to name. To another end, it can be called a ”city salon” where you can walk through one side to the other in less than an hour.

If you stay long enough, Venice will let you perceive a lot more than the mere physical pleasure of contact with the city and its famous buildings. This intimacy is a permanent challenge to your level of sensitivity and imagination and impossible to capture completely. Regardless, no matter how long or how well you will know her, Venice always allows you to discover. Just walking around, you’ll see something new you’ve never noticed before… an arch, a small square of an ancient house, iron craftsmanship on a wooden door or window treatment. 

Summertime… the water-city becomes the favorite attraction of the boat lovers, lots of boats of different kinds gather around the lagoon like they were taking a stroll through the center of the city.
The many islands rebirth together with the trees and flowers to create a beautiful scenario to all the outdoor dining fair.
Murano, Burano, Torcello, San Francesco, le Vignole… each one offering a unique variety of ambiance, atmosphere, culture and incredible venetian food. It is impossible to choose the best one, I think you should try them all!
This time of the year all the Venetian spend lots of time in the larger island: the Lido. With one of the best beaches on the Adriatic Sea. Pampered by the comfort of the beautiful cabanas which reminds you of the best Zeffirelli's stenography.
Tennis, water-ski, bicycle riding and the magic 18-hole golf course of the Alberoni.

Festival del Cinema

Who can forget the wonderful scenes one would see over the few television broadcasts from the Venetian film festival. In the era of silver screen stars that still make us dream today, Venice always remained a focal point for all that involved glamour, class and that special shazazz only cinema can transmit. Thanks to count Volpi’s continuos efforts to bring cinema and its stars to the lagoon, Venice was soon talked about in the biz and around the world, as a close relative of Cinecitta’s production studios in Rome, where Fellini and the great others where busy creating one masterpiece after the other. Rivaled only by the barely known Cannes Festival, which was starting, from a crawl to gain recognition, stumbling along till the mid seventies to rise above the ‘waterline’.
With the first fresh air, to chase away the sticky heat, the stars would arrive by air and water, to shine the lagoon with their glittering presence. Some, on small planes would land directly at the Lido, while others would arrive from mainland, being spotted from afar by the flashing paparazzi. The small island that most Venetians regarded as they’re comfortable summer house, became a shimmering whirlwind of appearances and happenings, of glamour filled parties to mysterious love intrigues that surpassed when unveiled even those, seen in the very films presented.
For this reason, many of the Greatest, took on the habit, after getting burned once too often by the obsessive camera flash, to detach themselves from the frenetic frenzy, at least during sleeping and eating hours, by finding safe haven in the quieter, more contemplative ‘historical center’ of Venice. More specifically, at the Bauer. For although the structure in itself was one of the greatest in town, rivalling easily the imposing Excelsior and Debain, the intimacy one could enjoy within its walls was so unique and well guarded, that some of ‘the greatest’ of today, still enjoy the same degree of privacy and comfort they’re ‘co-workers’ did, fifty years ago.
This is why, the stories that could be told, by the haed bartender of time, would be paid a fortune, even today, by the biggest international tabloids however, they remain untold, guarding secrets we only can imagine and re-live in our dreams, taking for real, those seen in movies.

Truman Capote once said: “Venice is ‘like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go." Perhaps he meant it is a city built for show. Its sights are global icons of art and architecture, and if you've never been, you're in for one of the most amazing treats of the travel world. 

With my warmest regards 

Francesca Bortolotto Possati
Chairman and President 


Mission
Our mission at the BAUER family of hotels is to provide our guests with the flavor and essence of Venice's past and present. The Bauer is also committed to the future of Venice, one of the world's most important and precious cities. Our goal is to set an example of leadership in the areas of both environmental responsibility and social commitment through the products and services offered to our guests.
We believe that by giving back to the roots of our community, we offer a richer and more meaningful experience to our guests. At the same time we are extending new opportunities for those who wish to enjoy the beauty and elegance of Venice around the world.
Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with some of the products and services we proudly present. Your feedback is always appreciated. Thank you.

Aria B Products
Eco-friendly, all-natural beauty products developed in partnership with a social intiative and sustainable community-based business. Exclusively available through the world-class Bauer hotels.
Sete-Cento Boutique & Designs
A contemporary collection representing a fluid elaboration of a grand and noble lifestyle, incorporating ancient Venetian artisan details which bring a touch of the magic and opulence of the Serenissima to a modern world of sophisticated grace and mobility.

B-Mare
Venice's only eco-friendly, solar-powered boat, the BMare, shuttles guests between the Bauer's L'Hotel & Il Palazzo to the Bauer Palladio Hotel & Spa with no noise, no waves, and no pollution. Guests of all Bauer hotels can enjoy the leisurely boat ride across the Grand Canal with spectacular scenery of the shore and Venice's lagoon, as well as engage in the amenities of a private garden and state-of-the art spa facility engaged in therapies for relaxation and healing on Giudecca Island.