I recently spent Christmas at the Hotel Monaco in Venice Italy. If you’re a regular follower of my design diary, then you’re going to be reading a lot more about my travels to Europe over the holidays, as well as my plans to return this fall.

I’ve been engaged for two years, and the plan has always been to have our marriage celebration in Italy. That said, I wasn’t convinced that Venice was going to be the ultimate destination, even though it has always been my fiancé’s first choice.

In September I began researching locations, making phone calls, sending emails, and using google images to look at endless possibilities up and down the Italian coast. And then, I found the Hotel Monaco, which sits at the mouth of the Grand Canal. Their grand ballroom is out of this world, and I knew if my pocketbook could make it work, then it would be our wedding venue.

We tailored our holiday vacation  in a way  that would allow for several days in Venice to tour the Hotel, and its surrounding area. We also scheduled a meeting with Simona Miranda, the hotels event manager, on the morning of December 24th. She was kind and generous  with her time and spent a full two hours with us, giving us a tour of the three buildings that make up the hotel.  I was concerned that our inability to speak  Italian would make our meeting difficult. On the contrary, her English was great and she was so much fun to talk with.

As for the hotel itself, its origins date back to 1638 when it was a public Ridotto, a place where the Venetians “retreated” for  gambling parties and other pastimes that personified the spirit of Venice’s merchant mentality. In 1768 the Ridotto was restored by Bernardino Maccaruzzi who also modified the internal structure, making it more functional. A later restoration took place in 1936, and again in 1947 before it ultimately became the Hotel Monaco.

The hotel is  literally a 5 minute walk from St. Marks Square, which is quite a treat late at night when no one’s around. It also helps that it was about 40 degrees this particular night, and no one in their right mind was out walking around.

Another wonderful feature about the hotels location, is the water taxi dock that’s located in front of the hotel. For less than $20 you can buy a 24 hour ticket that will let you hop on and off  Water Taxi #1, which will take you to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, under the Rialto Bridge, and all the way down the Grand Canal to the Train Station. There’s also a gondola station on this same dock, which we’ll talk about more on my next post. Ciao!

HOTEL MONACO