Celebrating the timeless grandeur of this architectural paradise
An architectural adult wonderland.
I have tried to capture the splendour of these buildings viewed from the only place... the water.
Climb abord our timber speedboat for a tour filled with romance, architecture and mystery in Venice – Italy’s answer to the City of Love. World-famous for its canals, it’s a fairy tale destination of Old World architecture and mysterious waterways, where it’s boats, not cars, that pull up outside your hotel – a rose-hued palazzo in another life. Gondoliers in striped uniforms ferry their passengers from the glass factories of Murano to the cobbled square of St Mark’s Cathedral, the most famous landmark in the city. Retrace the steps of Old Hollywood icons, like Sofia Loren and Brigitte Bardot, who all made their mark on this city when they arrived via speed boat for it for its world-famous film festival, which still takes place every August. It’s at the Belmond Cipriani hotel that many of them stayed: it’s also where George Clooney wed Amal in 2014. This is a place rich with history: a pit-stop on the Grand Tour of old, loved by aristocrats, socialites and playboys, and the inspiration for endless art. Its dark corners have hosted glamorous masked balls and soirees – Carnivale was born here – while the infamous Beistegui Ball at Palazzo Labia of 1951 has gone down in history as ‘the party of the century’.
