While in Venice, we got to stay in a historic hotel on Lido de Venezia or Lido Island, which hosts the Venice Film Festival every year. The 1st Venice Film Festival took place on Lido Island in August 1932. The 81st film festival is happening from August to September 2024, with stars congregating at “Palazzo del Cinema,” a 1937-era theater just five minutes away from the hotel we stayed in.

After a couple of hours traveling from Rome to Venice with a hearty lunch at a villa in the Tuscan countryside, our bus boarded a ferry from the mainland en route to Lido Island and the hotel.

Our home for two nights was Albergo Quattro Fontane, a gorgeous country-style chalet with floral gardens just a five minute stroll to the beach as well as the cinema that hosts the oldest film festival in the world.

Location

Lido Island is one of the two barrier islands in the Venetian Lagoon with sandy beaches, exclusive hotels and vacation homes of wealthy Venetians.

Since the hotel is just five minutes away from the venue of the Venice Film Festival, it’s no surprise that Albergo Quattro Fontane has become a celebrity hotspot for big names in the film industry. Unlike Venice itself, which can get packed with tourists, Lido Island has a quiet, residential feel.

The hotel is just a quick “vaporetto” (water taxi) ride away from St. Mark’s Square and the main sightseeing spots, so visitors can easily spend the day there and retreat to the peaceful hotel at night. The hotel is also a 5-minute walk to Lido Beach.

Ambiance

Albergo Quattro Fontane retains a lot of original features from its original structure, including wood-beamed ceilings and sculptures.

It looks gorgeous from the outside, with vines growing up the doorway and windows. I loved the floral gardens and fountain near the lobby entrance. The hotel interiors are warm, homey and inviting. You can sense the hotel’s rich history everywhere you look.

If you’re a fan of the Cottage-core aesthetic, you’ll feel immediately at home here. The lobby and cozy library are the stuff of Pinterest dreams. I felt like I was staying in a giant country doll house with books, antiques, dolls, sailboats, and French bottles peeking out from every corner.

History

The hotel has an intriguing history as it sits on the spot of Venice’s first and only “ridotto” or “casino” for Venetian aristocrats built between 1573 and 1575. At the time, casinos (which literally means “little house” in Italian) were exclusive venues for socializing, gambling and romantic trysts. These dimly-lit establishments, were once patronized by the privileged classes, to sample “rural delicacies” and to meet, talk, gamble and enjoy themselves, especially at night.

In the 19th century, it became a tavern and inn, frequented by the poet Robert Browning himself. Between 1905 and 1926, the inn was transformed into a country-style luxury hotel.

Elements of the old architecture were incorporated in the hotel’s design, including the series of arches, the grand fireplace, and the four columns of the dining room.

Rooms

The property has 60 rooms, all with period furniture, decor and details. We stayed in a double room and were issued an actual room key instead of a hotel keycard, a rarity these days. The room had an antique bed, wardrobe, decor and paintings.

While some senior travelers in our tour group found the small stairs leading to the rooms a bit unwieldy to manage with large suitcases and the bathroom a tad small, I found these aspects part of the hotel’s charm.

The room felt very cozy and lived in, with modern comforts like a minibar and private bathroom with a hairdryer and toiletries.

After dropping our bags and resting a bit, we strolled around the area. A trip to a grocery or convenience store is one of the first things we do after checking into a new hotel or arriving in a new city, so we were happy to find a small deli nearby to buy chips and beer to snack on later in the room. There were a few establishments and food stalls along the beach, but all were closed when we passed by.

Dining

You don’t have to go far from the hotel to get a good meal. Quattro Fontaine has an in-house restaurant and a cozy bar/lounge that spills into the charming garden.

We enjoyed the hotel’s buffet breakfast with a view of the great 15th-century fireplace. During summer months, guests can also opt to take their meals in the flower garden.

Their restaurant “Il Platano” serves typical Venetian cuisine and seafood dishes, a specialty of coastal areas in Italy.

We also had a nice candlelight dinner on our second night here after sightseeing around Venice*.

Art had the Seafood Pasta topped with clams, which tasted very briny and fresh. We were both missing rice meals, so I tried their Salmon Risotto, a creamy Italian rice dish, which was tasty and heartwarming.

The cozy lounge bar serves a wide selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. After dinner, we capped the evening with a couple of beers in the bar’s garden.

We did our fair share of hotel-hopping during our trip to Europe visiting 10 countries, but Albergo Quattro Fontane in Venice was the most charming place we stayed in, and my favorite hotel.

Without taking the budget into account, if I had to pick between staying in a modern business hotel or a boutique bed and breakfast like this one with loads of character, I’d definitely pick the latter for the experience.