Venice - Pensione Accademia?
 

Is this the same as the B&B Accademia? I was looking on Venere.com and want to make sure before I make a reservation. Thanks!

Actually, NO, it is not the same as the B&B Accademia. The Pensione Accademia is more precisely the Pensione Accademia Villa Maravege.

The Pensione Accademia (Villa Maravege) is the famous one that was used in the filming of Summertime with K. Hepburn. Is that the same as the B & B you're thinking about?

There are 2 separate properties, one is the B&B Accademia (which is about 2 "blocks" from the other) and other is the Pensione Accademia (Villa Maravege) which is famous and beloved. Plenty of opportunity for confusion!

SUMMERTIME is one of my favorite movies and has created an obsession to travel to Venice ... someday. As a film historian, I've searched high and low for information about the locations used in the movie. According to all sources, the Pensione Accademia is indeed where some filming was done. Not sure exactly where and the photos available of the Pensione today don't match anything in the film. In a book on director David Lean, I learned that the terrace where Hepburn and others sit was indeed built for the film. Lean was horrified to learn that the overzealous carpenters tore it down before the film had been totally completed but luckily he didn't need it again. Hepburn did not actually stay there but first rented a villa on an island and then eventually moved to a luxury hotel somewhere in Venice. Lean stayed at the Gritti.
The canal where Kate falls in is of course at Campo San Barnaba. The same setting is used in INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE as well as THE ITALIAN JOB and probably countless others.
Hepburn complained from a chronic eye infection for the rest of her life, blaming that fall into the canal. Actually, a recent book reveals that she'd sneak away on a gondola every night and swim in the canals. She swam every day of her life apparently.
When Kate meets little Mauro, he scampers down a wall by some steps to sell her postcards. That same setting is shot from exactly the same angle in Woody Allen's EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU in the scene where Woody meets Julia Roberts on a morning jog.
Check out any book on Katharine Hepburn and David Lean for more info as well as those great links posted by "elaine" on Jan. 22, 2003, above.

Hey danny52,

>SUMMERTIME is one of my favorite movies and has created an obsession to travel to Venice ... someday.<

Go now. Venice won't get cheaper, and you will just get older.

((I))

I stayed at the Pensione Accademia in 1997. I asked them at the time if any of the filming of "Summertime" had been filmed there and they said no. Very disappointing as I am somewhat of a romantic. No one offered to sell me a red goblet either.

I'm just coming across these last comments. I stayed at the P Accademia and had been told about the connection with Summertime (which had made me want to go to Venice since I was a kid). I was very disappointed to find that the staircase I remember so well from the movie (when Rosano Brazzi calls on her for the first time) is not at the Pensione. But the front terrace as you walk into the hotel looks very much like the terrace used in the film. Perhaps they added onto it to make it larger for the filming and that's what the carpenters struck.

I am thinking about staying there for my honeymoon in October. For those that have stayed there before, what did you think of the hotel and location?

For Jenny P:
We stayed at the Pensione Accademia in October 2001. Loved the hotel and the location. It was the best of all our Italian hotels that trip. Great full breakfast, also. Each room was a little different, and the bathrooms were spacious and sparkling. It is located in the Dorsoduro section, but is just a few steps away from the Accademia bridge. Quite a charming place.

Mary Kay