A luxury trip to Rome and Venice
From a Vespa tour of Rome to rowing in Venice, The Dedica Anthology group offer luxury plus in the iconic Italian cities, finds Emma Newlands
Soundtracked by the vibrant hubbub of the traffic, our group makes for quite a sight as we weave through the streets of Rome on three Vespas complete with sidecar – one in white, another in red, and mine in vivid green that sparkles in the early afternoon sunlight.
Our tricolore procession contrasts brightly with the greys and browns of the city’s famous historical architecture, and complete with a highly entertaining audio guide from our leader it makes for an unconventionally thrilling arrival to the Eternal City.
The journey – a nod to Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in the classic film Roman Holiday –isjust one of many memorable add-ons we experience with The Dedica Anthology.
The hotel brand has an expanding group of high-end properties in select European locations, and it aims to offer immersive and authentic experiences. Additionally, it takes its name from the Latin verb ‘dedicare’ meaning to dedicate one’s time to a particular purpose or task, or to assign a work of art in someone’s honour, and the anthology refers to the collection of unique stories represented by its hotels and guests.
The group is also led by Stephen Alden, whose previous roles include helming the group behind Claridge’s and The Connaught in London.
We stay at two of Dedica’s Italian properties during this trip, including the Palazzo Naiadi in Rome, housed in the neoclassical crescent that forms Piazza della Repubblica, and built over the ancient Diocletian Thermal Baths complex.
The 238-room hotel is a temple of opulent elegance, with my room making me feel like I’m a guest in an extremely well-appointed stately home – with high ceilings, antique furniture and a vast mirror on one wall – and a spectacular view of Rutelli’s Fountain of the Naiads.
The hotel is also proud of its luxury spa facilities – and our pampering kicks off with an invigorating massage, well and truly loosening the many knots in my shoulders, before I retire to my room for a relaxing marine magnesium bath.
That’s followed by having my hair and make-up done in my room – I could really get used to this lifestyle – then heading for some drinks on the hotel’s excellently named Posh Terrace on the rooftop, providing a wonderful panoramic view as the sun sets over landmarks including the Vatican.
Also visible is the dome of the nearby Teatro dell’opera, our destination for the evening for a contemporary production of the ever-relevant Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
I have never been to the opera before, and admire the gold paintwork surrounding rows of plush boxes above, as well as the captivating beautifully painted interior of the dome as we wait for the curtain to rise.
After the final curtain drops and the applause subsides, we make our way back to the hotel, and seat ourselves in the splendour of the Lobby Bar, in view of immaculate traditional costumes on display from a previous Don Giovanni production.
The theatrics don’t end there – we’re treated to ‘live tiramisu’ made in front of us, and petits fours including macarons served with a dramatic surprise flourish.
We had arrived in Rome from Venice by train – in the high comfort and spotless surroundings (Scotrail, please take note), of Frecciarossa, a high-speed line that can reach up to 300km an hour, and travels the length and breadth of Italy.
It’s an understandably popular option with tourists, and the journey sees us fly through the Italian countryside past an ever-evolving series of landscapes that look like paintings.
While in Venice we had stayed at the Grand Hotel dei Dogi, and this was also a journey we did in style – heading from the airport in a ‘private water limousine’, as the terracotta rooftops of the city came into view across the turquoise-coloured water.
We were then welcomed to the hotel with freshly made Bellinis –
I feel like I’m a guest in an extremely well-appointed stately home
that winning combo of white peach and dry prosecco – and then asked to choose one of three Acqua di Parma fragrances, with our individual selection then used to scent our room.
The hotel has a very different character to its Roman counterpart, much more bijou at 64 rooms and located in the beautifully tranquil Cannaregio residential area.
It was built in the 16th century by the Patarol family, later a private home for the Rizzo family, and other pre-hotel incarnations include monastery, French embassy, and then convent.
This is my first trip to Venice, and it exceeds even my high expectations – with every single vista picture postcard worthy, every corner and alleyway providing a new picturesque perspective – and I can see why it’s a key wedding destination, chosen by the likes of George and Amal Clooney.
I’m also thrilled that one of our activities is a walking and cicchetti (Venetian tapas) tour of Hidden Venice hosted by a charming local, who tells us about playing football in its courtyards as a child and explaining that Venice is made up of more than 100 islands with about 400 bridges, and a population of some 50,000.
We stop off at a famous osteria –
I see from photos on the wall that previous visitors have included Hugh Hefner – and tuck into a splendid spread of cicchetti, including bruschetta-style snacks topped with, say, artichokes and olives, or tapenade with blue cheese.
The sun sets during the course of the tour, and I’m intrigued to see that the city has a very different, intriguing feel at night, the constantly undulating bluey-green water seen in the daytime becoming almost black and so still it has a glassy appearance.
Glass in fact plays a key role for the two Dedica hotels, with both displaying highly elaborate chandeliers made by the glassblowers of Murano. The hotel offers a shuttle to the island of Murano, the oldest site of artistic glass production in the world where the tradition dates back to 1291 – it was moved out of Venice due to fire concerns.
We see the island the following morning when we head out onto the water after an ‘energising’ breakfast – which includes an eggwhite omelette with lagoon herbs. Our rowing class sees us try and master the technique, which makes for a surprisingly demanding full-body workout but satisfying once we start to make progress.
On arriving back at the hotel we tuck into a well-deserved lunch in the stunning surroundings of its ‘Il Giardino Segreto’ – one of the largest private gardens in Venice – which started out as a scientific botanical collection but was later remodelled to be more suitable for leisure.
Our meal includes a hearty Venetian-style pasta and bean soup, and stewed cuttlefish with loosetextured polenta, and it feels like a world away from the busy more touristy areas of the city.
That afternoon we’re treated to a tour of the garden courtesy of Wigwam Club Giardini Storici Venezia, a non-profit association created to safeguard the heritage of historic gardens in Venice.
It ends with a drawing class, a highly therapeutic experience where we learn key techniques to draw a rose, and I try and capture the dark-edged petals using sanguine, a reddishbrown chalk that was apparently favoured by Renaissance artists.
I then take a quick meander through the Venetian streets, past boutiques selling a variety of traditional masks, and armed with my trusty Dedica Insider Secret Map (this is also available in the Palazzo hotel). That evening we eat in the new La Voga Bar – with voga meaning ‘rowing’ – with the venue having been remodelled with a nautical theme and making me feel as if I’m on a luxury ocean liner. We sample more ultra local seafood and I head up to my room where awaiting treats include specially blended herbal infusions to help me doze off.
Fast forward to the end of the trip, and it is with a heavy heart that I prepare to head home and again anchor myself in the mundane reality of my own life.
The Dedica Anthology (www. dahotels.com, +800 8099 8099) offers rooms at Palazzo Naiadi from £267 a night based on two sharing a double room with breakfast. Rooms at the Grand Hotel dei Dogi cost from £134 per night on the same deal. Experiences incur an additional cost.