Description
Casa Bella – Veneto
OVERVIEW Casa Bella – Veneto
Staying in Casa Bella depicted by Canaletto and Guardi, beside a church designed by Palladio (1558) and a bell tower by Mauro Codussi (1480).
The former island of Olivolo, known now as San Pietro di Castello, is a special place. Together with Rio Alto (now Rialto) it has been the island to be the first settled by the Roman people of Veneto while fleeing from the barbarian invasions starting from the 5th century A.D. They also built a castle there, from where the name of Castello for the sestiere (district) which now occupies the eastern part of Venice.
The settlers also built a church on the island becoming a bishopric from the 8th century A.D. to the 15th. After then in 1451 the church became the cathedral of Venice (San Marco was the Doge’s chapel) and its archbishop the patriarch of Venice until 1807, when Napoleon moved him to San Marco for getting barracks from his palace and the adjacent convent. Since then the seat of Venice’s religious authority became San Marco.
The main building, its features and facilities
Casa Bella in Veneto is a charming four stories Venetian house with two private docks on a water front facing west, overlooking the Canale San Pietro. On the north side the verdant campo San Pietro with its church and bell tower and on its south side, the small garden with fully equipped open air and covered living spaces.
Sleeps up to 17 in 6 formal bedrooms, each with en suite bathroom, and a spacious loft with a further bathroom.
Each bathroom has a walk in shower.
Main kitchen for large parties, cooking lesson and normal cooking for the guests. First floor kitchen mainly for breakfast but also supporting the main kitchen when guests will eat in the dining room or terrace. Garden room kitchen for open air drinks, snacks and more.
Gym with hot tub. Three living areas on the first floor, on the loft and on the garden.
Layout by floor
The total width of the ground floor, including the uncovered areas, is around 6,000 sq. feet, instead the two upper floors measure 1,600 sq. feet each, the loft about 30% less due to the pitched roof. The whole, including the art gallery, is around 10,000 sq. feet.
House equipment
❖ Air conditioning throughout the house
❖ Under the floor heating system
❖ Small heated pool with jet stream in the gym
❖ Several dining and living areas indoors and outdoors
❖ Screens on all windows and doors opening to terraces and balconies
❖ Three fully equipped kitchens (ground floor, first floor and garden room)
❖ Three washing machines, one with tumble dryer
❖ Three dishwashers
❖ Icemaker
❖ WI-FI, 2 Satellite TV, DVD Player, 2 Stereos with CD player, IPod/IPhone dock
❖ Adaptors (all types), fans, cots, cribs, high chairs, wheelchairs
❖ Hair dryer in each bathroom
The gallery
The 2,000 sq. ft. art gallery, conference/multimedia hall can be rented also separately, with its own garden, kitchenette, totally disabled friendly. It can be as well used for yoga classes, screening, any art performance and events. Together with the main building it would be ideal for larger parties/events, for ex. wedding parties.
Equipped with air conditioning and heating it can be either used for single events or for longer rentals, up to 9 months/whole year.
Points of interest
San Pietro di Castello has been for more than 500 years, till 1807, the patriarchal church of Venice and seat of the religious authority (the archbishop) in the adjacent Palazzo del Patriarca.
San Pietro island is located between the two major exhibition centers in Venice, Giardini della Biennale and Arsenale, surrounded by a very lively neighborhood, once the dockyard (Arsenal in Venetian) workers’ quarter. Any kind of grocery shopping is available at a short reach: two supermarkets, two very well stocked greengrocers, fish mongers, butchers, deli shops, bakeries and so on.
Obviously, Casa Bella is not a destination for hurried tourists but it’s the ideal location for groups looking to deepening their knowledge on Venice, its laguna and islands, beaches and waterways, starting from the private jetties of the house.
From our dock you can quickly move to the center or make tours of the lagoon, using private boats or water taxis, without suffering the big disadvantages of finding yourself stuck among thousand of tourists. Otherwise at a short reach you will be able to get to three different stops of “vaporetti”(public water buses) that will bring you anywhere you wish. If you just want to walk, San Marco square is at 20 minute walk reach (15 at Venitian pace).
Experienced concierge services operators, professional English speaking guides, caterers, will organize our guest’s time preparing private visits to villas and Palazzi closed to the public, lunch/dinners with the owners, special meetings with international writers, painters, glass artists and more. But also for visiting Venice’s hinterland, the superb Palladian villas and towns as Vicenza, Verona, Padova, Treviso and many others. These were part of the Republic of Venice until its end by Napoleon’s armies in 1897.
❖Weekly bed and bath linen change for stays longer than one week.
❖House heating and air conditioning
❖Electricity & Gas
❖Water from the mains
❖Wi-Fi throughout the house
❖SAT TV (mainly in English)
❖Fully equipped kitchen and laundry
❖Hot tub maintenance
Top 3 best tours and experiences near Casa Bella – Veneto:
❖ Venetian Masters: The Gondola Makers of Venice
❖ Islands of Glass: Masters of Murano – Private Venice Tour
❖ The Great Grand Canal Tour – Venice
On the Map
