Venice Biennale: the beginning

Since 1895, the so called “Giardini” in the district of Castello host one of the most important events for art lovers, the famous “Venice Biennale“: the exhibition palace, designed by Enrico Trevisanato and whose façade has been realized by the painter Marius de Maria, has been elected the first house of the Biennale of Art, inaugurated April the 30th 1895 and able to welcome 224.000 during its first activity year.

In the next years and till the first world war (Biennale stopped between 1915 and 1918), the development of Venice Biennale started with the acquisition of the management of Ca Pesaro (in 1902), thanks to the donation of the duke Bevilacqua La Masa. In 1910 it was already to look internationally, as there was an entire hall dedicated to Gustav Klimt, another one to Renoir and a third able to make an introspective analysis on Courbet’s operas; unfortunately, no works of Pablo Picasso were exposed at the Biennale, despite the original program was supposed to insert at least one: the organization had fear public could have considered it as a scandal, being extraordinary innovative, so people had to be waiting till 1948 to see the Catalan artist at the Venice Biennale. In 1914, before the stop, there were 7 active pavilions already.

In the period between the two world wars, the exhibition started to offer more space to the vanguards, as impressionism, post-impressionism, Die Bruecke, and the role of head of Venice Biennale went from the major to Giovanni Bordiga, named as the first president of the Biennale, helped by the secretary Vittorio Pica (and for 8 years only by a board of direction as well). By the end of the 20s, the Archivio Storico di Arte Contemporanea was born, and the Biennale passed to the management of the central Italian government: under the guide of earl Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, three new events were created: Biennale Musica (music), Biennale Teatro (theatre) and, moreover, Biennale Cinema (Mostra Internazionale del Cinema di Venezia), the first movies festival ever, originally host by the terrace of the Hotel Excelsior (Lido di Venezia) till 1937, when the Cinema Palace became the new venue after its construction.

Cleaning processes at Albergo Marin – April 2020

As the world is living such an unreal moment, “frozen” while waiting to solve the COVID-19 pandemic issue, here at Albergo Marin we are continuing to develop our BIO approach with respect to our cleaning processes.

Referring to the cleaning of public spaces and rooms, including kitchen and breakfast hall, we are going to continue with the material supplied by MAGRIS S.p.A., which already gives us our courtesy set (shampoo, soap, shower gel) made up following a BIO approach.

Moreover, the pluriannual cooperation with EKONORE is supposed to grow up with a very important achievement: after the anti-mosquitos system (completed in 2019), the deratization (for law), the check against bugs and beatles and especially the prevention against bed bugs (which we make once every two months, with a qualified technician who checks all the rooms for in full), starting from the end of March 2020 we bought a particular machine “ozone” based able to sterilize each room or environment before the guest enters, as it removes smells, bacteria, molds and viruses.

We really hope you can be our guest in the future and that you could appreciate all these efforts we are trying do to for you, for us!

The decision: stop to online travel agencies

The emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted, once more, the negative attitude of travel website, literally know as OTA (online travel agents). Despite the Italian law created a specific article, thanks to all the people not able or unwilling to come in the next months are eligible to get a voucher instead of a refund, most of the OTAs, BOOKINGCOM in primis, substituted the rule with its own directives, which are by far against the Italian law and a huge problem for hotels: Bookingcom forces all hotels to refund guests (with hotel’s money) instead of preparing travel vouchers. Now, if guests could consider this a very fair act of Booking, you must remember hotels are currently closed, with no cash flows anymore and plenty of expenditures still, without  a certain re-opening day.

Therefore, Albergo Marin, as other venetian (not only) hotels did, has taken the decision to stop working with travel sites by now, waiting for something to change. To book our hotel you can use our official website only, call or mail us. We are waiting for you, we need you now more than even!

Pietro Bellotti “Archivi del Vedutismo” at Ca’ Rezzonico

Pietro Bellotti on display at Ca’ Rezzonico.

Pietro Bellotti appears for the first time at the famous Ca’ Rezzonico,  the amazing palace of XVII century now become museum facing on the Gran Canal, as one of the main painter of the exhibition dedicated to the lesser known artists of 1700.

The “Archivi del Vedutismo” is an exposition which includes the main works of this artist (around forty), well-known to be Canaletto’s nephew. Bellotti, born in Venice in 1725, moved to France, Toulouse, where he lived and worked for fifty years under the name of  “Le Sieur Canalety” or “ Pietro Bellotti di Canalety”, taking advantage of the reputation of his uncle. He is known also in Paris, Nantes and Lille, working for few years in England as well. However, he only took  the name from his uncle, his works are completely personal and depict the most beautiful views of the major European cities.

Do not miss this amazing exposition, on display up to April the 28th 2014.

Regata Storica 1 Settembre 2013

Today in Venice we celebrate the Regata Storica which is together a sport competition and a historical reenactment that takes place the first sunday of September.

During the first years of the Serenissima Republic, in the venetian lagoon people were very used to have fun practicing the voga. From this amatorial practice, truly fastness and endurance contests were born, with precise modality and rules.

The manifestation has two phases: the historic parade and, then, the competition.
Since the 50’s, the water procession that opens the celebration reminds the triumphal greeting for the Queen of Cyprus, Caterina Cornaro who arrived in Venice in 1489, after the throne abdication in favour of Venice.

The venetian voga contests are:
– the regata de le maciarele, for children until 12 years old
– the regata de le maciarele, for children until 14 years old
– the regata dei giovanissimi on pupparini with two oars
– the regata of women on mascarete with two oars
– the regata of bisse of Garda Lake
– the regata on caorline with six oars
– the regata of champions on gondolini with two oars

The title of King of the Oar (“Re del Remo”) is the prize given to the participant who wins five times in a row the conclusive regata of champions on gondolini; it is considered the most prestigious prize because of its difficulty and because it is released by local authorities.

Come to visit us!

Manet: Return to Venice

You still have a couple of days to go and see the Manet: Ritorno a Venezia (Manet: Return to Venice) exhibition. Up until September 1st the Civic Museums foundation will host it within Palazzo Ducale.

This exhibition was organized in collaboration with the Musèe D’Orsay, the institution that has the world’s largest collection of Manet’s paintings. It will include about 80 pieces among which we count paintings, drawings and incisions.

Manet: Return to Venice explores the young artist’s life and the influence that cultural models had on it. In particular, you will notice how Italian and Venetian artists such as Tintoretto has on some of his techniques.

If you want to see this exhibition in Venice, do not forget to book your hotel through Best Bookings!

Venice: Venetian Dialect

The main characteristic of the Venetian dialect is its musicality: to a person that is not used listening to it, it could provoke a smile due to its highly flexible intonations and its exaggerate tones. You will certainly get to hear it while walking through Venice’s streets.

As you probably have already heard, every region of Italy has its own dialects which have evolved across the centuries, each of which mirrors the places’ history of invasions and foreign influences. In some cases, the inflection can be noticed by city in city. This is the case of Venice and its peculiar Venetian Dialect.

The Venetian dialect, also known as Veneto’s lagoon dialect, is a variant of the regional dialect spoken in the lagoon and the surrounding area. This is divided in several different categories such as the chioggiotto, the pellestrinotto, the Burano dialect and from the northern lagoon the caorlotto and the mainland Venetian.

If you want to hear the Venetian dialect with your ears, do not forget to book your stay with Albergo Marin!

Music Biennale: Altra Voce, Altro Spazio

 The Biennale is art, and art is also music. This fall will open with a series of appointments dedicated to 81 composers, most of which were born during the 80s and the 70s. From October 4th to 13th Venice will be the set to the Festival Internazionale di Musica Contemporanea (International Festival of Contemporary Music): many of the artists will play for the first time in public.

The 57th edition of this festival was named Altra Voce, Altro Spazio (Another Voice, Another Space). These words summarize the concept of music and the two ideas that revolutionized it. Life lives with sound, and sound moves through space eternally mutating and in evolution through every generation, obtaining new meanings while people try clinging on to the old ones.

If you want to participate to this event, do not forget to book your stay in Venice with Albergo Marin!

Vedova Plurimo Exhibition

Emilio Vedova is an Italian artist that disappeared during the last decade. Born in Venice, he always had a deep connection with the lagoon city; he taught everything himself, receiving the bases from his artisan family.

This year, in honor of the Biennale, Venice has decided to homage Vedova. The artist has participated to the event in the past, becoming its protagonist more than once. During this edition, his artworks populate once again the streets and the most popular spots of the city. Among this we find Museo Correr, CaRezzonico and the Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna.

Through a path called “Vedova Plurimo” these places try rebuilding the artist’s personality, offering a new interpretation on his artwork and the influence of his city and his personality on them.

If you want to visit the “Vedova Plurimo” exhibition, do not forget to book your hotel through Albergo Marin!

“Supernatural” Exhibition

Once again, in honor of the series of events that are animating this summer due to the Biennale, a new exhibition with international importance has opened in Venice. It’s Supernatural, an exhibition that will last up until the last days of November at the Officina delle Zattere. Everything has been organized by Francesco Elisei and Fabio Anselmi.

Supernatural presents artwork by eight famous contemporary artists from Bangladesh who belong to a group named “Chhakka“. These artists use a large selection of mediums to produce their pieces. An example is Lala Rukh Selim, a woman that has experienced work with both painting and sculpture in the search of a link with her country.

In the exhibition you will also find artwork by Gavin Rain (South African) and Gianfranco Meggiato (Venetian), making it truly international.

If you want to participate to the Supernatural exhibition, do not forget to book your stay with Albergo Marin!