SEE NEW REVIEW OF THE LONDRA PALACE

VENICE

IL PALAZZO at THE BAUER HOTEL & LONDRA PALACE HOTEL

Il Palazzo at the Bauer Hotel & Londra Palace Hotel, Venice, Italy Do not do Venice on the cheap. The most beautiful city in the world has some wonderful hotels and, after a heavy day of art and culture, you need to be able to look forward to a restorative dose of luxury in one of them. So here are two of the best.

The Bauer was opened in 1880 and is still run by the family which bought it in 1930. Within a few steps of St Mark’s Square, this is one of the ‘greats’ of Venetian hotels. Its main entrance is a plain 1940s box, and therefore a great oddity in this town of elaborate decoration. (Personally, I like it: in the same way that I like a lemon sorbet after three dishes of foie gras – it cleanses the palate.) But we are bound for Il Palazzo, and so we need to head off down a narrow alley to the left of the modernist façade.

Il Palazzo is the Bauer’s “hotel within the hotel” and occupies the 18^th century building at the back – right on the Grand Canal. The idea was to create – inside what was already a top-class establishment – a haven of the highest luxury and exclusivity. As I entered through the small door, I was impressed. This intimate reception area was dark, sumptuously decorated and full of helpful members of staff. I sensed at once that I was going to be cosseted – and there are few things in life I like more than being cosseted.

I was shown to my room on the first floor and realized that the cosseting was going to be of a high order. Number 115 is classified as a ‘deluxe suite’ (£500 to £750 a night, according to season). The nomenclature was correct in both particulars: it was both deluxe and a proper suite. In the modest hallway (with wardrobes) I turned to my right and found myself in the spacious sitting room. Two sofas in gold velvet, three standard lamps, a stone mantelpiece, paintings of romantic ruins and an elegant writing bureau made this a comfortable and inviting space. But it was when I went back through the hallway and into the bedroom that I confronted the true splendour of my accommodation. Here was a fine chamber with a 12-foot high ceiling. Around its edge ran an elaborate cornice, picked out in gold leaf, and from its centre hung a multi-coloured chandelier of the finest Murano crystal. Elaborately carved giltwood mirrors on walls covered with silk damask (in white, pink, green and gold) and pieces of furniture in polished walnut added to the sense of being in the private apartment of a magnificent Italian house.

There was, alas! no view from my windows (you will need to secure a room with a number ending with 06 or 09 for the famous Grand Canal view), but the panorama at breakfast (£24) was some compensation. My cornflakes, bacon and pineapple were eaten on the highest outdoor terrace in Venice – Il Palazzo’s Settimo Cielo (Seventh Heaven, on the 7^th floor, of course). Here I marvelled at the near 360 degree sweep of the towers, spires and rooftops – and was tempted to linger for an hour or so.

My other eating at the Bauer was done at Il Palazzo’s De Pisis Restaurant. (De Pisis is the name of the artist whose large canvas of flowers adorns one wall of the dining room.) This is a small place, with a marble floor, silver/blue tablecloths, gold walls and a turquoise ceiling. It sounds rather over-the-top, but – believe me – it works very well. And the waiters – mine was Mauro de Martino – work very well, too. I need to pay a special tribute to the new maitre, the charming Fabio Bozzo. At the next table a very young child, with alarmingly indulgent parents, decided to start banging. Was my evening going to be ruined? No it was not. For Signor Bozzo skipped over, whisked the implement from the child’s hand, spoke discreetly to the parents – and quiet was restored. Well done, that man.

Chef Giovanni Ciresa sent to my table excellent red mullet, brilliantly partnered with candied citrus fruits, rather ordinary cauliflower soup with cheese dumplings, pink and tasty loin of venison with roasted apples and onion (another effective combination) and a well executed banana tartlet with ice cream. (£65 for these four courses.) From the cellar came two interesting Italian bottles. My local white was a blend of five grapes, including chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, and was possessed of a perfumed, slightly nutty nose (Vintage Tunina 2000, Jermann - £46). My red gave out a gorgeous aroma of perfume and red cherries, and was still very muscular, even after decanting (Brunello di Montalcino, Poggio Salui, 1996 - £58). Good drinking in a good restaurant in a very, very good ‘hotel within an hotel’ – Il Palazzo at the Bauer.

My second hostelry provided me with some of the loveliest minutes I have ever spent in Venice. I was at the Londra Palace, a handsome pile on the famed riva degli Schiavoni – between the bridge from which everyone gazes at the Bridge of Sighs and Vivaldi’s church. I was sitting on my very own terrace, shielded from the sun by an electrically operated blind. As my interest in the novel open before me waned, I looked up and marvelled once more at a panorama both fascinating and sublime. San Giorgio Maggiore, the Redentore,the Customs House, Santa Maria della Salute, the top of the campanile in St Mark’s Square, San Zanipolo and San Zaccaria – my 270 degree sweep took in some of the world’s most beautiful buildings.

I therefore nominate Room 510 at the Londra Palace as one of the most desirable hotel rooms in Venice – and, at £400 to £500 a night (according to season), a real bargain in this expensive town. And it was not just the private terrace which took my fancy. Inside, this was a spacious and well-equipped chamber in red, gold and green – a long oblong, with plenty of room for a large sofa, two armchairs, an escritoire and a music stand. This last has more than decorative significance, for it was in this hotel – in 1877 – that Tchaikovsky composed his 4^th symphony. (The patronage of a composer is always a good sign: creators of music seem to like luxury.) A dozen lights allowed a most pleasing atmosphere to be created in the evening, and effective air conditioning ensured that all was calm and cool during the day. And I was much taken with a small device new to me, which ought to be copied by every hotel in the world: a notice I could place outside my door to summon a handyman, with symbols – for me to tick – of a chair, a light bulb, a tap and a loo.

You will have noticed that the rich colours of this room were very much in the customary Venetian tradition. But when I arrived I was surprised to find an entirely different style in the entrance hall and in the ground floor public rooms. Here all was white and light and airily sophisticated. And so it was in the hotel restaurant, Do Leoni.

Here I was looked after by the splendid maitre d’ Nicola Masiero, a model of courtesy and good humour – two attributes I found in abundance whenever I encountered a member of staff at the Londra Palace. He presides over a room of Corinthian pilasters and spotlights, in which waiters and waitresses in white jackets fulfil their tasks with calm efficiency. I liked the good-sized tables (pity, though, that the tablecloths were beige, not white), the Schott glasses and the Biedermeier-style armchairs. On the wall behind me was a picture of the Palace of Westminster; from the hall drifted in the sound of a saxophonist playing ‘Smoke gets in your eyes’. I was content.

And the food – straightforward, well-cooked and pleasingly presented – increased my contentment further. Terrine of foie gras and lobster, tagliatelli with tomatoes and mozzarella, grilled veal loin in bacon crust (really excellent meat) and a finish of tasty pancakes. (Allow about £50 for four courses.)

The wine list is longer than many in Venice, is mostly Italian and contains some astonishing bargains. What about a glass of sauternes for £2? Remarkable. As was another snip, which I could not resist: the best super Tuscan, Sassicaia, in its 1999 vintage, for £106. Very young for so great a red, of course, but decanting helped to open up its intensity of black fruit. Such perfumed elegance makes one glad to alive and able to drink. And my white was pretty good, too – a Sicilian chardonnay with lots of citrus flavours for just £16 (Gorgo Tondo Grillo, Duca di Castelmonte).

No, do not do Venice on the cheap. Go to Il Palazzo at the Bauer or book room 510 at the Londra Palace. Then relax in luxury, elegance and style.

SEE NEW REVIEW OF THE LONDRA PALACE

VENICE

IL PALAZZO at THE BAUER HOTEL & LONDRA PALACE HOTEL

ADDRESSES

LONDRA PALACE