Hotel Cipriani Venice Luxury Hotel

Classic opulence

The luxury Hotel Cipriani is located on La Giudecca, a small island directly opposite St Mark’s Basilica. Giudecca has a charming village atmosphere with old churches, galleries and pleasant walks along the quayside. Benefiting from its own private motor launch, the Hotel Cipriani enjoys a quiet, private location yet is just minutes away from all the sights of Venice. Giudecca is one minute away from Zattere, the lively Dorsoduro area and the Accademia and five minutes by vaporetto from the Grand Canal and St Mark’s Square.

Known as one of the most glamourous luxury hotels in Venice, a title which has fierce competition, the Hotel Cipriani enjoys a beautiful location just beyond the crowded streets of Venice, separated by just a short stretch of water. There is a swimming pool, flower-filled gardens, tennis courts and a yacht harbour adjacent to this beautiful luxury hotel, which all enjoy splendid views of the lagoon.

Inside the Cipriani are a long string of superlatives – the most luxurious rooms, the most attentive staff, the most private locations and the most opulent of interiors. Created by Giuseppe Cipriani back in the 1950s, the hotel has had a ongoing chain of celebrity guests, such as Joan Collins, Steven Spielberg  and President Jimmy Carter, all seeking  the prestige of staying at one of the world’s top luxury hotels, affectionately known as ‘The Cip’. With a wall of awards, the Cipriani was on the Condé Nast Gold List 2007.

The hotel consists of two 15th century palazzos linked by a pretty loggia. Each of the 104 rooms and suites is to die for. Opulent furnishings and flamboyant window treatments are just some of the features in the exquisitely decorated and furnished rooms of this luxury hotel. With glorious lagoon views from every window, the Cipriani simply must be experienced to be believed.

The unrivalled services are completed with the fabulous Casanova Wellness Spa; the Cip Club, which offers world class dining on the terrace with stunning views across to St Mark’s Square, and the more formal Fortuny Restaurant, offering fine Italian cuisine in the perfect setting.

Detailed Review

The Hotel Cipriani has been created to provide the very best of Venetian hospitality, it incorporates the most luxurious accommodation, the most attentive service and the finest cuisine in an atmosphere of calm and seclusion. The Hotel Cipriani commands a position of strategic importance at the tip of Giudecca Island in Venice and affords dominating views of both the lagoon and St Mark's Basin - the hotel is only five minutes from St Mark's Square by private launch. The three main buildings, swimming pool and tennis court are situated on a fertile piece of land, overflowing with flowers and vines. The original main building is located on the most sheltered side of the island, which offers a splendid panorama of the lagoon. Located on the other side of the island, yet just a few minutes' walk away, are Palazzo Vendramin and Palazzetto Nani Barbaro, which both benefit from a front-row view of St Mark's Square and Basin.

Independent Reviews

Hotel Cipriani
By Heidi Fuller-Love

As volatile as an Italian’s fabled nature, as fickle as the mythical lumière which inspired Canaletto’s vedute (scenic paintings), it’s no surprise that Venice has been the muse of some of the greatest creators the world has ever known.

Rising out of an endless Adriatic horizon, mysterious as any lost Atlantis, Italy’s legendary city floats above its ruffled lagoon like a brilliant-colored phoenix and on a first-time visit even Tiepolo and Titien must have stood and gaped in awe.

But if the floating queen was unrivalled mistress of trade between Europe and the Orient ,and bulwark of Christendom against the deluge of Turkish expansionism for four long centuries, by the time Byron arrived on the scene in 1817 the tides of power had turned, and the languid Lord - who adored the floating city - penned many a melancholy line about the saddened Serenissima and her palaces ‘falling to wrack and ruin’.

Risen from the flames in extremis, these days most of Venice’s palazzos have been lovingly restored and whether it’s the pink and white marble Palazzo Ducale, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni (home to Peggy Guggenheim’s superb modern art collection), or the Ca’ d’Oro’s marble traceries and gilded ornamentation, Byron’s ‘ruins’ now form a necklace of sumptuous architecture strung out along the legendary Grand Canal. As for the onion-domed Basilica di San Marco - and it’s busy piazza whose exclusive stores, celebrated coffee rooms and vociferous pigeons lap round the basilica’s skirts like the lagoon’s chilly waters do in winter – it’s the stunning centrepiece of the world’s most fabled parure.

One time owner of “Harry’s Bar”, that fabled Venetian watering hotel which counted Onassis amongst it’s clients and still boasts the best dry Martinis in town, Giuseppe Cipriani created his eponymous hotel in the early fifties on a plot of luxuriously isolated undergrowth, overlooking San Giorgio Maggiore church, and the Venetian Lagoon, from La Giudecca’s eastern tip.

Fifty years on and the hotel’s renommé relies on the same combination of unobtrusive service, exquisite décor and subtle luxury which explain its renown in the great Giuseppe’s day.

Refurbished by French decorator, Gérard Gallet, pastel tones, classic furnishings and fabrics signed Fortuny and Rubelli lend an atmosphere of laid-back elegance and deceptive simplicity, belied by top range comfort-fittings such as private Jacuzzi’s, tennis courts and an Olympic swimming pool.

Marble tubs and full air-conditioning add to the Cipriani’s ease factor, and an ideal stuation - just 3 minutes from St Mark’s square - explains why ‘The Cip’, as it’s affectionately known to aficionados, has played host to myths like Steven Spielberg, Joan Collins - and even Jimmy Carter.

Linked by a flowered loggia, the hotel has two 15th century Palazzos whose spacious rooms have spectacular views over to the Doge’s Palace, but the jewel in it’s crown has to be the Palladio, suite refurbished in 2002 whose two bed -, 3 bath - interior comes complete with private butler and the services of a personable captain who’ll whisk you on a breathless trip to Venice.

And if you’re still feeling blasé why not take a shorter ride to the Cipriani restaurant where the menu reads like a ‘who’s who’ of the gastronomic art?

Try the creamy Taleggio sprinkled with cracked pepper, or drool over the moist savor of branzino in crosta di sale marino (baked sea bass in a sea-salt crust), and whether you sit out under stars on the dreamy terrace, or sup under Murano chandeliers in the panelled dining room, you’ll finally understand why legendary Venice’s hotel Cip has become a legend in its own right.

• Hotel Cipriani
  By Mary Lussiana

  From the freshly baked banana bread at breakfast eaten on the terrace as the sun begins its watery ascent, to the sumptuous lunchtime anti pasti and irrestible pasta to the Bellini cocktail sipped by the huge swimming pool with its view onto San Giorgio Maggiore, the Cipriani provides a paradise for lovers of luxury and lovers of this magnificent city. Situated on the island of Guidecca, every journey across the waters to St. Mark’s Square provides a view which despite being unchanged for centuries can never fail to shock with its utter beauty and allows the appreciation of Venice from the outside. To gaze at this City from the modern comforts of one of the world’s great hotels is a treat indeed.

• "Top luxury hotel on a small island across from St Marks, much favoured by the English"

  One of the most select hotels in Venice, if not Italy, protected as it is from the Venetian hordes by a narrow strip of water. One of the few hotels in Venice with a pool. For the ultimate in privacy and the Venice experience, book into the self-contained annex, the Palazzo Vendramin - suite 23 with its view across to St Marks is the best of them all.