August 27, 2007

Europe | Italy | Venice

Shooting Stars in the Sinking City

By Nicole Cotroneo

How Brad, George and a flock of marble cherubs are pumping up the fabulous factor in Venice.

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Every other year the world’s oldest international movie festival takes over the Lido at the same time the Biennale blankets the Sinking City. Celebrating its 75th anniversary, the annual Venice Film Festival kicks off Wednesday with a retrospective on spaghetti westerns curated by Quentin Tarantino. Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Charlize Theron all have movies vying for a coveted golden lion. And fortunately the “Queen of the Adriatic” has no paucity of luxe lodgings for fastidious competitors.

Just through with its final primping, the presidential suite goes for $16,000-per-night at Venice’s largest hotel, the recently opened Hilton Molino Stucky. Prominently perched within a steepled tower (pictured), the 3,000-square-foot pad doesn’t just take in the canalscape through 44 windows; it’s got its own rooftop observatory. Meanwhile, the brand new Ca’Sagredo Hotel sits right on the Grand Canal, near the Rialto Bridge, in a 15th century frescoed palace that’s considered a national monument. With a grand staircase flanked by marble cherubs and restored paintings by Venetian master Giambattista Tiepolo, the hotel might actually upstage the Biennale.