honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, October 28, 2007

Lido island is Venice's low-key cousin

By Chris Oliver

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

On long, narrow Lido, Venice's guardian against the Adriatic Sea, you'll find grand hotels, a 1930s cinema, a settlement dating back to at least the eighth century and a 1400s palace.

spacer spacer

If Venice is the beautiful and cranky countess of the Adriatic, Lido island is her eccentric and noble cousin.

Take some downtime from the bustle of Venice and visit this low-key island, 10 minutes by water bus from the Piazza San Marco. And when you step off the vaporetta at Lido's Santa Maria Elisabetta, hire a bicycle from the outfit directly ahead in the square.

Where Venice is round, Lido is long and narrow. It's a sandbar, less than a mile wide that forms a 9-mile barrier against the open Adriatic Sea.

Eccentric for its confusion of architecture, overshadowed by its showy neighbor, the Lido — from "litus" meaning both shore and entrance — has protected Venice and the lagoon for centuries; it's a formidable link in the arc of sandbars that shield the city from a certain watery doom.

Early seafaring Venetians knew the lagoon's survival depended on these barriers; the earliest laws of the republic forbade cutting the pine trees that anchor their shifting sands.

Today, Lido is perfect to cycle around; you can cover the island in a half-day leisurely ride. You'll still find hundreds of pine trees but across the lagoon, Venice continues slowly to sink.

What to see:

  • Hotel Des Bains: Nostalgia is not confined to Venice. Here on Lido, home to the annual Film Festival, the Hotel Des Bains, celebrated in Luchino Visconti's 1971 movie "Death in Venice," is a monument to opulence, comfort and nostalgia. Built in 1900, its belle epoque glamour is everywhere.

    Room rates begin at $460 per night, or you can settle for dinner beneath the elegant Murano glass chandeliers at the hotel's Liberty restaurant. Cyclists, however, may just want to enjoy the view across the beach from the hotel's casual Bar Colony near the swimming pool, open 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily. (Des Bains also appears as the "Cairo" hotel, in Anthony Minghella's 1996 romance, "The English Patient.") Nearby, the Palazzo del Cinema, built in the 1930s, hosts the Venice Film Festival each September.

  • Malamocco, in the center of Lido, was the first settlement on the island. It was once home to the Doge of Venice and capital of the Venetian state. Malamocco has long since lost its glory but on the town square are a 15th century palace, a campanile and the church of Santa Maria Assunta.

  • Alberoni is home to San Nicolo, a monastery flanked by a fort and a cemetery. Traditionally each ruling Doge made his way out to the shallow waters off San Nicolo to celebrate Venice's Sea Wedding, its "marriage to the sea," by dropping a ring into the lagoon (the ceremony exists today with a parade of boats). San Nicolo's Renaissance cloister still stands and the Basilica contains the relics of St. Nicolo di Myra, "the universal rescuer over land and sea."

  • Gran Viale Santa Maria Elisabetta, the wide street in the heart of Lido, leads from the lagoon on one side to the ocean on the other. There are houses, hotels, shops and restaurants. On warm summer evenings it's open season promenading for residents and tourists alike.

    Reach Chris Oliver at coliver@honoluluadvertiser.com.