“Waterside views from a gorgeous garden - in central Venice”
da RoamWriter New York City, New York il 15.05.2012
Desiring to avoid the crowds of the high season and the carnival, I stayed at this palazzo, or palace, four nights in January. While the rate of around 200 euro a night was steep, I think I got what I paid for.
I can recommend my room, #11, located on the first floor just past the reception desk. It was large with antique appointments and a modern sleek bathroom designed with Italian sensibilities. It was a pleasure to swing open the room’s windows and gaze out upon the little narrow canal that runs alongside the building, watching the gondolas and work boats gliding by just a few yards away. Best of all, the room has a private door that opens directly onto one of the resort’s two gardens.
As other reviewers have mentioned, this first floor room was noisy and I could hear voices from the reception desk area—a particular problem when one is trying to sleep. I think the management could solve this problem by installing a second set of soundproof doors in the room, or perhaps just a sliding acoustic curtain. There is certainly sufficient room for such an accommodation in the door’s large frame. My own solution was a traveler’s expedient: I pretended the people outside were my relatives chatting away in the kitchen.
I did a little investigation of the other rooms on the first floor: #10, adjacent to mine, is a little smaller and also has a direct door to the same private garden. #12 is directly across the reception area; #13, #14 and #15 are down a short hallway adjacent to the breakfast area; none have direct access to a garden. #15 seemed the best of the last lot and is adjacent to an exterior door that takes you out to yet another garden on the Grand Canal.
Breakfast consisted of high quality biscuits and croissants, and great coffee (I asked for “long” or American coffee) in the hotel’s charmingly designed breakfast area. Request their menu of additional paid-for choices (I had prunes and muesli) if it’s not on the table. After breakfast I wandered out onto the hotel’s front garden and watched the busy boat traffic on the Grand Canal.
Negotiating Venice’s narrow, maze-like streets can be challenging for the first-time traveler, so I was fortunate to reserve rooms within a 10-minute walk of the train station (Stazione Santa Lucia). When I left the station I turned left and walked a short distance through a busy area packed with small hotels and restaurants to a pedestrian bridge (Ponted. Scalzi) over the Grand Canal. (Be prepared to climb 40 modestly graduated steps to the top, then the same number down). Once off the bridge I walked straight ahead, taking the second left (the first is a dead end, as I discovered) and continued a short distance over a smaller bridge, then past an ancient church (S. Simeone Grande). I turned left at the first opportunity and found myself on an open square, or campo. The entrance to the hotel was just ahead to the left.
It occurred to me that travelers with heavy luggage might want to avoid the large bridge near the train station and take the vaporetto, or water bus, instead. So I also traced out that route, taking the #1 line at the Ferrovia stop, located in front of the train station. (Take the boat marked “Lido,” rather than “P. Le Roma,” which goes the other direction). I traveled one stop to the Riva Di Biasio station. Leaving the boat I turned right, walked to the second left and walked a few yards to the first right, which took me down a narrow street to the open square. Ca Nigra was straight ahead.
As the above remarks suggest, it would be prudent to obtain a good quality street map prior to arrival in Venice, which presents the traveler with a confusing maze of walkways. Be prepared for some backtracking, though: I did not find a single map that was really accurate. Even Google maps is confounded by the city’s idiosyncratic medieval sensibilities. Don’t be in a hurry to get anywhere.