Albergo Quattro Fontane

A favorite spot for moviemakers during Venice’s annual film festival, which inspires parties in the courtyard, the hotel maintains a family-hospitality ambience established in 1954 by a Danish/Italian family that acquired the country inn and furnished it with antiques and art objects. Two second-generation family owners (architect and artist) live on the property. Many guests return annually.

Amenity highlights:
Guests and Lido visitors dine and socialize day and night in an immense courtyard containing fountains, a 300-year-old plane tree, and a profusion of greenery and flowers. A restaurant in the restored 16th-century casino/country house features original wood-beamed ceilings and wood-burning fireplace, as well as two marble columns designed by the architect Palladio. The hotel reserves four beach cabanas for guests to rent on a daily basis.

Insider tip:
Opened in 1575 as a “casino” for Venetian aristocracy to enjoy country air, conversation, and gambling, the hotel became a tavern in the 19th century, and English poet Robert Browning was a frequent guest. The name, Quattro Fontane (four fountains), refers to watering pools used by farm animals in the early 20th century, when the original structure was under construction.

ADDRESS
Via Quattro Fontane 16
Venice, 30126
Italy
Nearest major airport:
Venice, Italy (VCE-Marco Polo)

DINING
A complimentary European-style cold breakfast buffet (hot dishes available for surcharge) is provided each morning on Platano garden terrace or in Quattro Fontane Restaurant & Bar.
Quattro Fontane Restaurant & Bar – Restored rooms from 1575 summer house contain original wood-beam ceilings and wood-burning fireplace, as well as four marble columns, two of which were designed by renowned 16th-century architect Palladio. Open for lunch, dinner. Candlelight at night. Vegetables from hotel’s own garden. Bar featuring original gilded-wood ceiling open from late morning to late night for sandwiches, espresso, and cocktails.
Platano Outdoor dining and cocktails in lush, flowering garden under namesake 300-year-old plane tree. Open for lunch, dinner. Specializing in items from brick grill.

LOCATION HIGHLIGHTS
Marina nearby
Water nearby
Convention center nearby
Full-service health spa nearby

NEARBY POINTS OF INTEREST
Beach – 50 meters (55 yards)
Convention center ( Lido Eventi e Congressi ) – 100 meters (109 yards)
Palazzo Mostra del Cinema (Venice International Film Festival) – 200 meters (219 yards)
Planetarium – 1 km (0.75 mile)
Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) – 1 km (0.75 mile) and 12 minutes by waterbus
Jewish Cemetery (historical site) – 1.5 km (1 mile)
San Nicolò al Lido (historical church) – 2.5 km (1.5 miles)
Golf course – 7.5 km (4.75 miles)
Marco Polo Airport (VCE): Approximate time by boat (operated by Linea Alilaguna) is 50 minutes across the Venice Lagoon and 1 km (0.75 mile) by land from the boat dock.

Getting there: From the airport, visitors to the Lido can take a private water taxi or they can go by boat operated by Linea Alilaguna. A shuttle bus located outside the baggage-claim area transports visitors to the boat, which is two minutes away. The boat disembarks passengers on the Lido 1 km (0.75 mile) from the hotel. Visitors in cars (car rentals are available online) can drive 13 km (8 miles) from the airport to a car-ferry at the end of the Tronchetto parking garage near Pizzale Roma. (Follow sign at end of bridge to Tronchetto ferry-boat per il Lido.) On the Lido, the car-ferry docks 1.25 km (0.75 mie) from the hotel. To reach the hotel, drive south from the car-ferry dock along the main street expending along the Lido’s lagoon side and turn left on Gran Viale S. Maria Elisabetta to cross the island. At Lungomare Guglielmo Marconi, turn right. At Via Lorenzo Marcello, turn right. The hotel is approximately 100 meters (109 yards) ahead. The hotel offers a limited number of complimentary parking spaces.

Getting around: On the Lido, visitors can rent bicycles or motor scooters, hire taxis, take public buses, or walk to the beaches 50 meters (55 yards) away. Walking is also the best way to tour the island’s shopping/dining/entertainment center, which lies 1 km (0.75 mile) away. To reach Venice’s historical center and Venice Lagoon’s other major islands (Murano, Burano, and Torcello), visitors can take private water taxis or board a vaporetto (public waterbus) at a stop 1 km (0.75 mile) from the hotel. Waterbuses go to St. Mark’s Square ( Piazza San Marco ) 12 minutes away in St. Mark’s Basin and stop along the Grand Canal and other major waterways in the city’s historical center.

POLICIES
Extra person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Rollaway beds (surcharges) and complimentary cribs (infant beds) are available and should be requested at the time of booking.
Photo identification and credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in. Special requests made via this Web site cannot be guaranteed and may incur additional charges.
Pets accepted
Check-in time is 12:30 PM
Check-out time is 11 AM

PROPERTY AMENITIES
Less like a hotel and more like the informal country home of a well-traveled family, the hotel contains extensive collections of objects such as African masks, Indonesian puppets, and rare French ceramic figures, all filling guestrooms and public rooms. Guestrooms also contain antique furniture, rugs, tapestries, and paintings. Thee main building also encompasses parts of the original 16th-century building, as well as features such as wrought-iron light fixtures from the building’s reincarnation as a tavern in the 19th century.
Two computers in public rooms provide complimentary high-speed Internet access. The hotel staff speaks fluent English.
See a list of property amenities

    Private beach
Complimentary breakfast
Bar/lounge
Parking (free)
Meeting rooms (small groups)
Conference room(s)
Internet access in public areas – high speed
Multilingual staff
Porter/bellhop
Number of rooms: 60
Currency exchange
Concierge services
Room service (24 hours)
Restaurant(s) in hotel
Parking (secure)
Banquet facilities
Business services
Internet access in public areas – complimentary
24-hour front desk
Safe-deposit box – front desk
Number of floors: 4
Air-conditioned public areas

RECREATION
The Lido of Venice, a slender, 11.5-km-long (7.25-mile-long) island facing the Adriatic Sea that lies a 12-minute waterbus ride east of central Venice, is the city’s playground, especially in summer when beaches and watersports draw visitors and Venetians. Year-round, visitors rent bicycles to explore the island, play golf on a course at the island’s southern tip 7.5 km (4.75 miles) from the hotel, or take horseback rides.
Much of the Lido’s eastern shoreline contains public beaches, but there are also many private beaches furnished with cabanas that can be rented on a daily basis during warm-weather months (approximately June 1 to September 1). Cabanas are expensive, often costing as much or more than visitors’ hotel rooms. The hotel reserves four beach cabanas for guests to rent on a daily basis. Each cabana includes three lounge chairs, a table, dining chairs, and a daybed. A public beach begins 500 meters (547 yards) from the hotel, and lounge chairs and umbrellas are available to rent from independent operators on the beach.
Use of the hotel’s clay tennis court is complimentary.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or near the hotel; fees may apply.

    Golf – driving range nearby
Snorkeling nearby
Swimming nearby
Sailing nearby
Jet skiing nearby
Windsurfing nearby
Volleyball nearby
Basketball nearby
Hiking/biking trails nearby
Scooter/Moped Rentals nearby
Horse riding/rental nearby
Playground nearby
Golfing nearby
Surfing/boogie boarding nearby
Rowing or canoeing nearby
Water skiing nearby
Motor boating nearby
Aerobics nearby
Running track/path nearby
Tennis on site
Bicycle rentals nearby
Parasailing nearby
Fishing nearby

ROOM AMENITIES
Cable/satellite TV
Climate control
Minibar
Housekeeping (daily)
Complimentary toiletries
Bidet
Window opens
Desk
Television
Rollaway beds
Air conditioning
Blackout drapes
Wake-up calls
Bathrobes
Hair dryer
Child care (in room, surcharge)
Clock radio
In-room safe
Smoking rooms
Cribs (infant beds) available

ROOMS
The hotel offers 60 guestrooms in a vine-covered, four-story white building with black-wood balconies. It was constructed in the early 20th century around the original 16th-century structure and around a 19th-century tavern. A four-story white annex, opened in 1966, contains extensive rustic-wood accents. (Neither building has an elevator.) Residential-style guestrooms, each with its own decor, contains antique European furniture, white walls and ceilings, tile floors with area rugs, and contemporary bathrooms, many with Sardinian floral tiles.