Home Destinations Europe Italy Venice Sights The Lido

The Lido Review

Read our Venice sights reviews. Or post your own.

Venice Categories:

• Overview
• Places to Explore
• Sights
• Restaurants
• Hotels
• Entertainment
• Shopping
• Travel Tips
• Features
• Fodor's Choice
• Deals

WHAT'S NEARBY

• Restaurants
• Al Vecio Cantier
• Bar Trento
• More >>

• Hotels
• Hotel des Bains
• Hotel Hungaria Palace
• More >>

The Lido

Fodor's Review:

Separating the lagoon from the sea, this long sandbar of an island was once a garden plot providing vegetables to Venice. Only its southern end, Malamocco, which was the republic's 8th-century administrative center, was inhabited, the rest being cultivated. But from the 1850s through World War II, the Lido became a fashionable sea resort, and its name was subsequently borrowed by many seaside resorts throughout the world. This was where Austrian Archduke Maximilian built his summer residence, where Thomas Mann wrote Death in Venice, and where Iran's former Shah Reza Pahlavi came to water-ski. The Lido's popularity peaked in the late 1930s, following the launch of the Biennale film festival, the building of one of Italy's first airports (now used only for private traffic), and the opening of the casino (now closed). Some of the glamour and architecture of those days remains in the Moorish-looking Grand Hotel Excelsior and on the quiet streets branching from Gran Viale Santa Maria Elisabetta, adorned with many art deco villas. Today, the Lido is where locals keep holiday houses and crowds of commuters from Venice and the mainland spend a good portion of their summer. The water looks murky because of the fine sand, celebrated by Byron and Shelley, but it's actually quite clean. Small waves make for relatively safe swimming, even for children. The best way to explore the Lido is by renting a bicycle, alternating sightseeing with sunbathing.

Get Advice From Other Travelers

• Venice - Itineraries and accomodation
  17 responses; most recent on 11/08/2008, 01:41 pm
• 8 days in Venice too long?
  45 responses; most recent on 10/22/2008, 07:31 am
• Connie, My Cane and Venice
  22 responses; most recent on 10/19/2008, 01:24 pm
• Weather/clothes Oct 10-24 Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Rome
  11 responses; most recent on 10/05/2008, 04:45 pm

Visit the Travel Talk forums for help on planning your trip >>

Buy the Guidebook

• 
  $11.95

• 
  $24.95

Get the Fodor's Newsletter

Read the current issue
For more travel ideas, tips, and deals, sign up for the Fodor's newsletter here. Browse previous issues.