Venice:
In Grand Style
“Piazza San Marco”
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A View from our Room, Hotel Bauer
Photo by Diane Epstein
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Ciao Amici,
If you're looking to spend a
few days sitting in the lap of luxury, Venice is the
place to go. It is a city that has always had an opulent,
decadent side, and even though its glory is past, Venice
still knows how to entertain in grand style.
We arrived there after two weeks
on the East Coast, where we were buried in a foot of
snow in New York. Flying in to Marco Polo airport was
like entering another world. You leave the airport terminal
and walk fifty feet to a boat that drops you off forty
minutes later in Piazza St. Marco in Venice, after a
stop on the ancient and beautiful island of Murano,
where glass makers have been concocting fanciful creations
for centuries.
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The weather, for Venice in the winter,
was acceptable. The temperatures were in the 40's under a
weak, hazy winter sun -- great light for taking memorable
photos. After walking a few steps from the Piazza, we found
ourselves at the Hotel Bauer Grunwald at Piazza San Moise',
where we stayed a few nights. Don't be put off by the modern,
nondescript entrance and lobby. The hotel is a gem. The friendly
staff is courteous but not stiff or formal, the buffet breakfast
overlooking the Grand Canal suited everyone's taste, from
simple caffe' latte and a brioche to the more American-style
bacon and eggs, and a better location in the Serenissima would
be difficult to find.
| But the real treat
were our quarters. Since our two children were with us,
we had a suite with two bedrooms, each equipped with individually-controlled
thermostats; soft, thick, terry-cloth bathrobes; firm
beds (just what we were looking for after two weeks with
air mattresses, couches, sleeping bags, and pull-out beds);
and marble-lined bathrooms that turned out endless streams
of hot water in which to soak after walking the cold,
humid streets of the ancient city. The rooms were so comfortable
(some of which have spectacular views overlooking the
Grand Canal) that we didn't want to leave them, especially
the kids who found television programs to watch from all
over Europe, in French, German, and English. But of course
we fought off the jet lag enough to have two dining experiences
worth mentioning. |
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Piazza San Marco
Photo by Diane Epstein
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| First, an admission. Because
we live in Rome, we are spoiled eaters. The food is so
good and so reasonably priced, that it is easy to find
an established trattoria where a family of four can eat
like royalty for under a $100. Not so in Venice. Our past
culinary experiences at this level were not memorable,
so this time we decided to splurge. |
Hotel Bauer, Terrace on the Canal
Photo by Diane Epstein
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One place I would
recommend is the Ristorante Antico Pignolo, in a characteristic
building with exposed beam ceilings on a tiny street at
the other side of Piazza San Marco from the hotel. We
were taken care of in grand style by our personable waiter
Luciano, who speaks perfect English and likes to practice
it. We started off with an antipasto of pureed baccala'
(codfish), seppie negre (black cuttlefish), and polenta
(corn meal), and then went immediately to a primo piatto
of tagliolini pasta with ample pieces of tender, tasty
scampi and vegetables. We could have stopped there, but
Luciano convinced us that we must continue. He brought
us a tray of perfectly-grilled fish and seafood -- lobster,
sole, sea bass, and scampi -- which was washed down with
a bottle of crisp Soave. Dessert was a meal in itself:
custard-filled crepes topped with powdered sugar, strawberries,
vanilla ice cream, and Grand Marnier. |
| Of course, after a meal like
this, you always think you'll never eat again, but the
day after we were back at it, this time sitting aside
a huge picture window that looks out onto San Marco, also
known as the "finest drawing-room in the world." The restaurant
is called Quadri, and it has basically been there in one
form or another since 1638. Our handsome waiter Antonio
seated us in the elegantly-appointed dining room of a
restaurant in the city that claims to have served the
first cup of coffee in Europe in the middle of the seventeenth
century. |
| Dining has certainly
evolved since then. We followed in the footsteps of Stendhal,
Dumas, Proust, Wagner, and Byron, and sampled the culinary
pleasures of a world-famous restaurant. Our antipasti
consisted of carpaccio of duckling with radicchio and
balsamic vinegar and a salad of pear, arugula and shredded
parmigiano. These were succeeded by primi piatti of fusilli
pasta with duck sauce and risotto with scampi and radicchio.
For secondi we tried roasted veal with wild mushrooms
and a Venetian specialty: fegato (liver) with sauteed
onions. Our desserts of tiramisu' and panna cotta did
not disappoint either. |
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Grand Canal, Venice
Photo by Diane Epstein
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| By this time -- perfectly sated
-- we were ready to board the train back to Rome, leaving
behind the cold, humid, foggy air of Venice for the warmer
climes of the Eternal City, where the temperature when
we arrived at 10 PM on January 5th was 60 degrees. As
they say, it's great to get away, and it's also great,
especially when your home is Rome, to get back. When we
are next in Venice, we know exactly where to go. |
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Saluti,
Alan Epstein |
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