Psst George... the twins are welcome here too!
As I wandered through the stunning rooms of the Palazzo Papadopoli just over a week ago, I was wondering when George Clooney and his wife Amal might deem it safe enough to return to this, their exquisite Venetian wedding palace. Safe? Well, this time they’ll have their young twins in tow!
And then, just as I was settling into one of the comfy chairs in the bar and sipping a glass of Prosecco with my sister Pauline, in came a young couple with a child. So much, then, for me presuming that this beautiful hotel – part of the Aman portfolio – would be a bit ‘sniffy’ when it came to hosting children among their guests. ‘Not at all,’ the Aman’s charming sales and marketing manager Andrea di Maso assured me. Children, it appears, are most welcome here.
Much focus fell on the Aman Venice when Gorgeous George tied the knot here with Amal Alamuddin back in September 2014. And yes, it certainly gets its quota of ‘celebrities’ (there were whispers that Meg Ryan had stayed the night before I visited last week) but it doesn’t trumpet their presence, just as it doesn’t trumpet its own.
Indeed, when I first went scouting for the Aman shortly after it opened on Venice’s Grand Canal some four years ago, I couldn’t find it. No name on the front, no showy flags complete with logo, nothing of any sort to distinguish it or to scream – ‘Look, here we are, one of the most luxurious hotels in the world!’ Outwardly, it remains as understated as ever.
I was lucky enough to stay here for a night about 18 months ago – an experience I wrote about for our sister newspaper, the Irish Daily Mail. The beauty of the hotel is overwhelming – the Tiepolo-painted ceilings, the Fortuny silk wallcoverings, the ancient leather-covered walls in the library… It feels like a home – which is exactly what it was for Giberto and Bianca Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga and their five children before the Aman people came calling. Even now, the fam- ily continues to live in private quarters on the fifth floor. Yet it is also a hotel, of course – and one of the world’s finest at that. Albeit one with only 24 bedroom suites – something that comes as a shock when you see the size of the palazzo, but then, when you see the actual rooms, you understand why – all 24 are enormous. I loved the Ballroom when I first visited – all creams and golds, with its elegant white sofas and three little tables facing the windows that overlook the Grand Canal.
I took tea there that afternoon (leaves, of course) and later that evening I dined in the adjoining Yellow dining room on exquisite food produced under the expert eye of Michelin award-winning chef Davide Oldani. I can still remember the saffron risotto and also one of his signature antipasti dishes – caramelised onion served with a Grana Padano cheese ice cream, with one scoop hot, the other cold. Divine.
When I returned last week I made a beeline for the Ballroom again. Still as stunning as ever but I discovered a few subtle changes. Where once lived the Red dining room, for example, you will now find the beautiful new bar, filled with light and larger than the original bar, which now serves as an intimate dining room. The decor throughout is stunning. And the wonder of it is that it is open to everyone – to drop into the new bar for a drink perhaps or to dine on the mouth-watering delicacies created by Signor Oldani.
In other words, you don’t have to cough up for the price of a room (or all of them as the Clooney/ Alamuddin party did!) to enjoy this beautiful hotel.
I’m not quite sure that my brother-in-law knows it yet but the next time my sister returns to Venice with him, their name is definitely on a table for two in that Yellow dining room!