Gritti Palace, Venice

About Gritti Palace

Originally a 16th century palazzo belonging to the family of Doge Andrea Gritti, the charmingly old-fashioned Hotel Gritti Palace occupies an enviable corner of Venice overlooking the Grand Canal.

Behind the façade's Venetian Gothic windows are gorgeous public rooms adorned with antique furnishings, marble floors, precious paintings and elegant damasks. The Hotel Gritti Palace's guestrooms are Venetian in style, embracing local stucco and Murano designs that reflect the bygone era of the Baroque and Rococo.

Fine culinary delights are available in the Hotel Gritti Palace's Restaurant Club del Doge amongst marble columns and underneath wooden beams. During the summer, the restaurant opens out onto a waterfront terrace with enchanting views of Venice.

The legendary Hotel Gritti Palace has played host to some of Venice's most illustrious visitors throughout the years, including Ernest Hemingway and international Royalty.

Accommodation:

Rooms with bath or shower, television, minibar, hairdryer and safe.

Supplements (from):

Grand Deluxe £54. Junior Suite £154. Double for Sole Use £132. Half Board £100. Weekend (Fri-Sat) £25 1-15 Nov, £34 Apr-May & Oct, £68 Jun-Sep. Peak dates 13-24 Feb £106.

Facilities:

91 air-conditioned rooms
Restaurant Club del Doge
Bar Longhi
Terrace
Lift

Please Note:

Buffet breakfast.
Minimum stay 1 night (2 nights for Fri & Sat arrivals and 3 nights for arrivals 28-31 Dec and 25 Jan-5 Feb).
Waterbus stop Santa Maria del Giglio.

About Venice

Built on stilts and forming an archipelago of 117 small islands, Venice reposes on a liquid tapestry of calm canals and lazy lagoons 2,5 miles (4km) from Venice's mainland. The city's luminous quality is glimpsed from gliding gondolas and explored on foot through narrow calli, linked to one another by ornate stone bridges. Painted palazzi, Byzantine basilicas and Baroque domes compete with the dove-flocked piazzas that reach the ultramarine waters.

The wealth of Venice is evident in Piazza San Marco and alludes to when the Venetian republic was a dominant mercantile power, trading silks, spices and gemstones carried overland by Bedouin caravans and shipped to Mediterranean ports. Nowadays, modern craft navigate between six ancient sestieri, bearing carefree stowaways to St Mark's Basilica, the Palazzo Ducale and on up the Grand Canal to the Rialto, where palazzi lining unhurried channels display architectural styles spanning five centuries.

Become tempted by Venice's food market below the Rialto Bridge and after having enjoyed a meal head to the shopaholic joys of the Mercerie, which runs between Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge. Perhaps cross the short stretch of water that leads to the glass-making island of Murano and the lace and linen enclave of Burano.

Venice Lido is the largest island here and benefits from an 8 mile (13km) long beach, which at the turn of the 19th century, created a premier resort for international aristocrats. Regular vaporetti, exclusive motor launches and public water buses transport visitor to another world in the time it takes to drink a cappuccino. Venice is a permanent carnival, rejoicing in a masked ball in February that swirls visitors into a sensual atmosphere peopled by gallant heroes and bewitching courtesans.



CARNIVAL

26 Jan-5 Feb 2008

During this stunning extravaganza, the entire city becomes a stage set for vibrant pageants, concerts, dinner-dances and spectacular masked balls, culminating on Shrove Tuesday in a fabulous ball, dancing in the piazza and a magnificent firework display over the Bacino di San Marco.