George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin were married this weekend in Venice, Italy at Aman Canal Grande Venice hotel. California star gazing is typically not my Loyalty Traveler media interest and luxury hotels priced at 1,000+ per night are an infrequent type of hotel stay in my travels. I was intrigued to learn about the couple’s wedding hotel location in Venice.
On the home page of the Aman Canal Grande Venice are hotel awards like:
Condé Nast Traveler
The Hot List 2014
Best New Over-the-Top Hotels
Aman Venice overlooks the Grand Canal in San Polo, the smallest of the six sestieri (districts) of Venice. Named for the Church of San Polo, it is also one of the oldest parts of the city, known for its beautiful palaces, churches and market.
The history of the Palazzo is a 500-year story with relatively few ownership changes over the centuries.
The palazzo in which Aman Canal Grande Venice is housed, Palazzo Papadopoli, was built in 1550 by the architect and follower of Sansovino, Gian Giacomo de Grigi, as commissioned by the Coccina family. The Coccinas were wealthy traders and seafarers who had recently moved to Venice from Bergamo. The palazzo was sold to the Tiepolo family in 1718 after the death of Francesco Coccina, the last descendant. Avid art collectors, the Tiepolos built an impressive library and gathered treasures from all over the world which were viewed by many notable figures of the time. The Tiepolos also employed the painter Giambattista Tiepolo to decorate rooms with frescoes which still remain today.
The palazzo changed hands several times between 1837 and 1864 when it was acquired by the Papadopoli family. The brothers Count Nicolo and Angelo Papadopoli moved to Venice from Corfu in Greece, and Nicolo married Maddalena Aldobrandini who came from a wealthy family of intellectuals. The Papadopoli Aldobrandinis bought the palazzo and set about an ambitious renovation. In 1865 they hired architect Girolamo Levi, and entrusted the internal decoration of the piano nobile – the main living area of the palazzo – to Michelangelo Guggenheim.
Guggenheim was a leading exponent of the Neo-Renaissance and Rococo styles, and he reinvented the space, turning the palazzo into one of the most significant examples of these styles in Venice. The palazzo was reimagined as the perfect home for entertaining, with access from the side canal for all services and deliveries. It also featured one of the first elevators in Venice, as well as electric powered chandeliers and an internal phone system. The brothers also bought two adjacent buildings which they razed in order to build two gardens – very unusual features in Venice. By 1882, the Papadopoli Brandolinis were entertaining the highest echelons of Venetian society.
At the close of the 19th century, Vera Papadopoli Aldobrandini married Count Giberto Arrivabene with the palazzo as part of her dowry. Today, the palazzo is owned by her grandson, Count Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga.
The hotel website has a large picture gallery for the Aman Canal Grande Venice Resort.
So how much does it cost to spend the night at this Aman Venice hotel?
Rates start at €1,150 ($1,459 USD) for a Palazzo Bedroom.
Alcova Tiepolo Suite is €3,650 ($4,630 USD).
Rates drop in December for the low category rooms. The hotel is closed for most of January. There are 10 weeks from February 18 to April 30, 2015 with discount rates before the 2015 rate increases.
€350 ($444 USD) price increases for the high end rooms is pretty steep room rate inflation.
Perhaps those 2015 rate increases are the George Clooney bump?
There are probably some people who will read about the Clooney wedding and seek out a hotel stay at the Aman Canal Grande Venice for their own dreams on a bed of California Stars.
*****
“Aman Canal Grande Venice on a bed of California Stars” is my title spin-off of ‘California Stars’ Woody Guthrie song lyrics with music written by Jay Bennett and Jeff Tweedy from the album Mermaid Avenue by Billy Bragg and Wilco (1999). Here is a live version of California Stars on YouTube. No connection between the song and the Aman Venice, except in my head with this post.
I’d like to rest my heavy head tonight
On a bed of California stars
I’d like to lay my weary bones tonight
On a bed of California stars
I’d love to feel your hand touching mine
And tell me why I must keep working on
Yes, I’d give my life to lay my head tonight
On a bed of California stars
*****
Ric Garrido of Monterey, California is writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler.
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