Happy Hoteling in Venice
A 9.7/10 hotel review, my short list to Venice, and a journal of 48 hours in La Serenissima in December
Buongiorno, from Italy, Happy Hotelers. I know, I said I wasn’t going to work, but alas, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Today is all about Venice. Where I stayed (the most fabulous hotel), what I did, and what I’d recommend in La Serenissima.
It’s long, but hopefully everything you need to plan a wonderful trip to the city. It was very fun to write.
A very edited shopping section, this week
These Tod’s are SO cool, and an extra 10% off. I have tripled down on my newly energized love for the driving loafer.
A backgammon set is a great thing to bring on vacation, but you need a cool one that rolls up, like this.
This is such a good bag to schlep a lot of stuff in – for travel, or everyday life. I saw someone at the airport wearing this and was so thrilled to find it on Mytheresa, and it’s an extra 10% off.
These leather gloves come from Ukraine, which is something I would really like to support, and they’re beautiful and come in so many colors.
I’ve had my eye on this plaid down jacket all season!
Likely, I will genuinely not work the next week, but again - who knows. I don’t want to break my posting streak, in all honesty. Thank you SO much for being here. Thank you so much for your time and your trust, which has given me this career, and thus, this trip. It’s been A+. SONO FELICE!
On Venice
If you’ve been to Venice and didn’t like it, I encourage you to give it another shot. The Happy Hoteling way. It’s hard to be truly authentically Venetian these days, because that’s a lost sense, there are only 50k Venetians living in Venice. 50 thousand! A medium-sized city in Ohio’s population. This wowed me.
But, this trip, I chose a hotel specifically because I had a gut instinct that not only was it truly Venetian in all the ways I love, but I had a feeling I would get a lot of insight and answers on the city that I’ve been long seeking.
Again, my gut wins. Enter Alex (Alessio) and Oliver (Oliviero), two of the coolest and most great at their job people I’ve ever met in Italy (at least outside Capri). No joke, I got every single one of my many dozen questions answered in a series of fantastic conversations.
My ego wants you to know that’s a reason to be here, at Happy Hoteling: I pride myself on getting to know the true hidden gems we all seek by having real, long, human conversation with true locals. Not transplants. Not expats. Not editors. People born and raised in the place in question. Like Alex and Oliver, and all my friends in Capri.
The expat perspective is entirely different from the born-and-raised. I’m most interested in the latter, as many other trusted travel names focus on the former. And as Oliver said, and Alex echoed in a similar way, they’re two entirely different identities and lifestyles. Also, my parents were American expats in Italy, so I have that insight and expertise already in many places and thus I want to augment that with the on-the-ground, in-the-blood kind of intel.
A quick aside, if you think I’m overly preoccupied by finding hotels where I want to be friends with the staff, you’re correct. Even in California! I think it makes a huge difference, and not just for me personally, but in traveling in ways I’m proud and thrilled to share with all of you.
Ok, now is probably the time to tell you where Alex and Oliver work, and where I’ve stayed. Al Ponte Antico, directly on the Grand Canal with direct views of the Rialto Bridge, but without any air of inauthenticity, corporate policy, or Instagram-oriented aesthetic treatment.
Excuse my French, but I fucking love this hotel.
It’s not 100% perfect, but 99%. It’s exactly what I want and have been seeking in a hotel in Venice. It could only exist here. A 16th-century merchant’s family palazzo, turned current owners’ family home, turned hotel in 2007. 9 rooms, superbly Venetian. Affordable, authentic, and it absolutely couldn’t be found in any other city in Italy. It has the most wonderful staff. Fantastic rooms, with period-correct Venetian antiques. Updated bathrooms, no sense of damp, which is an issue that plagues the city.
Actually, let’s quickly talk about the whole notion of “Venice is sinking.” I learned so very much from Oliver.