10 things to do in Venice during the Film Festival 2019

Film producer Frank Mannion has worked with everyone from Rosamund Pike to Ewan McGregor during his years on the international film circuit. Here he reveals where the starlets go during the prestigious Italian festival

By Frank Mannion

4 September 2019

Things to do in Venice during the Film Festival 2019

Celebrating its 76th edition this year, the Venice Film Festival is the oldest, and arguably the most glamorous film festival in the world. It takes place on the isle of the Lido, with the Adriatic lapping on one side and the languorous swell of the lagoon on the other. It’s where the long road to Oscar glory began for films such as Gravity, Brokeback Mountain and Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma. The 2019 edition, astutely overseen by suave festival director Alberto Barbera, has been full of world premieres – including the glorious on-screen partnership of Timothée Chalamet and Lily-Rose Depp in The King, Scarlett Johansson in Marriage Story, Joaquin Phoenix in the chilling Joker, and Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman in The Laundromat.

Remarkably, the festival makes little attempt to promote itself to the hordes of tourists who descend on Venice each summer. Here are my insider tips to help you join the Film Festival cognoscenti.

1. BUY A TICKET TO A WORLD PREMIERE

Unlike the Cannes Film Festival (where it is virtually impossible for mere mortals to get close), here anyone can buy tickets to the premieres and galas. They can be purchased online or at the ticket booth on the Lido (easily accessible by waterbus from the mainland), and there are rarely long queues. At Cannes, the stars are kept far away from the madding crowds, but at Venice they walk the red carpet, sign autographs and take selfies with their adoring fans. This year’s festival is hosting world premieres for films starring such divas as Penélope Cruz in Wasp Factory, Kirsten Stewart playing Jean Seberg in Seberg, and Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche in The Truth.

Tickets: boxol.it

Kumar Sriskandan - Alamy Stock Photo
STAY IN THE RIGHT PLACE
On the Riva degli Schiavoni lies the wonderfully romantic Hotel Metropole, its candlelit and red-velvet lobby transporting guests back to a more genteel age. It has been in the Beggiato family for three generations, but the charismatic Gloria Beggiato doesn’t allow it to bask in the luxuriousness of its own history. The chic and friendly staff walk around purposefully in black designer uniforms, and the walls are adorned with nutcrackers, exotic fans, corkscrews and crucifixes. Thomas Mann wrote Death in Venice here, and Vivaldi taught music in the chapel, which has now been converted into the stylish Oriental Bar. This is, in fact, a stunning place to stay at any time of year and dine at chef Luca Veritti’s Michelin-starred Met restaurant, which features Murano glass chandeliers and Fortuny fabrics. A-List movie stars will expressly ask the studio to splash out on a decadent suite with a private roof terrace, as they all offer breathtaking views of San Giorgio Maggiore island. It was here that Ralph Fiennes and Tilda Swinton sat in low-slung wicker armchairs under citrus trees and mingled with director Luca Guadagnino in the tranquil hidden gardens of the hotel.
Address: Hotel Metropole, Riva degli Schiavoni, 4149, 30122 Venice, Italy
Telephone: +39 041 520 5044
Website: hotelmetropole.com
Jason Knott - Alamy Stock Photo
HAVE DINNER WITH BRAD AT THE ST REGIS
The hottest new hotel on the Grand Canal is the St Regis Venice, where sharp-suited general manager Antonello De Medici keeps a beady eye on things. He hosted a hush-hush dinner for Brad Pitt and Twentieth Century Fox in its beautiful garden, to celebrate the world premiere of the space opera Ad Astra. The chef created an inventive vegetarian menu for guests who feasted with views of the Basilica Santa Maria della Salute late into the night.
Many stars of the festival stay in the gilded splendour of the Hotel Danieli, a few gondola lengths from the Bridge of Sighs. It’s steeped in celluloid heritage, with scenes from Moonraker shot here. For the critically derided caper The Tourist, Johnny Depp even clambered over its roof tiles in his pyjamas.
The Restaurant Terrazza Danieli has heart-melting views of the lagoon, and each year it hosts a lavish party honouring the President of the International Jury. This year that’s Lucrecia Martel, along with special guest Pedro Almodóvar. The chef was inspired by Almodovar’s Volver and even conjured up Raimunda’s meatballs (beef and chorizo with a soup of roasted peppers) and a datterino tomato gazpacho with manchego cheese and caramelised onion crumbs. If lodgings here are beyond your budget, you can still book breakfast on the terrace and enjoy a complimentary glass of prosecco or two.
Address: St Regis Venice, San Marco 2159, Venice, Italy. Hotel Danieli, Riva degli Schiavoni, Castello 4196, Venice
Telephone: +39 041 240 0001; +39 041 522 6480
Website: stregisvenice.com
hoteldanieli.com
TAKE A DIP IN THE HILTON MOLINO STUCKY ROOFTOP POOL
After a day filled with movie-watching and sightseeing on La Serenissima, this neo-Gothic hotel on the tranquil Giudecca island provides the perfect respite. Like all good movie plotlines, its history is steeped in intrigue. Converted from an old flour mill, it was built by the magnate Giovanni Stucky who was once the richest man in Venice and lived in the grand Palazzo Grassi (now a wonderful museum). His murder at the hands of a disgruntled worker in 1910 caused a national scandal.
The Molino Stucky is only a 12-minute boat ride from Saint Mark’s Square and it is unique in that it is the only hotel in central Venice to have a rooftop pool. Some of the best Film Festival parties have been thrown here over the years, and the one to be held on 1 September is eagerly anticipated.
The glorious view from the rooftop cannot be replicated anywhere else in the city, and the hotel is reasonably priced, considering that it also has an impressive spa and the renowned Bacaromi restaurant, which serves divine cicchetti with Instagram-worthy views over the water.
Address: Hilton Molino Stucky Hotel, Giudecca, 810, 30133 Venice, Italy
Telephone: +39 041 272 3311
Website: hilton.com
Adam Eastland - Alamy Stock Photo
HAVE A BELLINI AT HARRY’S BAR
The story goes that Harry’s Bar founder Giuseppe Cipriani was inspired by the pink colour of the toga in one of Giovanni Bellini’s paintings to create a cocktail of the same hue. And so the Bellini, a mixture of prosecco and peach nectar, was born. It is also said that the drink captures the colour of the late-evening sun setting on the lagoon. No visitor would dream of ordering anything else here.
Afterwards, follow in the footsteps of George Clooney by having dinner at nearby Da Ivo. It was at this charming restaurant, owned by Giovanni Fracassi, that Clooney spent his last hours of bachelordom with friends over dinner. The daily specials are brought to the table on a portable blackboard: simple dishes such as linguine and clams are, in a city not known for its culinary consistency, of a very high standard. You can even arrive in style by gondola, just like Tom Cruise, Bono, Madonna and Denzel Washington, who have all visited.
Address: Harry's Bar, San Marco, 1323, 30124 Venice, Italy
Telephone: +39 041 528 5777
Stephen Fleming - Alamy Stock Photo
REGALE YOUR FRIENDS WITH TALES OF THE REGATTA
If the Film Festival does not float your gondola, you can instead find distraction with the spectacular Regata Storica. Venice has hosted this historic gondola race and ceremonial pageant down the Grand Canal since the 13th century. On the first Sunday of September, thousands congregate to catch a glimpse of the beautiful boats and brightly coloured participants who compete for the King of the Oar title in traditional Venetian costumes.
The most fun part of the day is the corteo, which is the historical procession of colourful gondoliers in 16th-century boats that precedes the actual race. One of the best places to watch the action is from the Do Leoni restaurant of the stylish Hotel Londra Palace. The corteo starts right outside the hotel, so you can watch it while tucking into head chef Loris Indri’s sea-bass tartare embellished by mint, Hawaiian salt flakes, brown sugar and rye bread. If you had to choose music to accompany the regatta, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4 would be particularly appropriate to capture the drama of the race, especially since the composer wrote the first three movements while staying in room 106 of the hotel (perhaps while sitting in one of the hotel’s many wonderful Biedermeier chairs). The building has more than 100 windows facing St Mark’s Basin, so watching the sun set or rise here is a joy. Enjoy the gondola race with an English picnic on the hotel’s rooftop, overlooking the lagoon and the Basilica Santa Maria della Salute.
Address: Hotel Londra Palace, Riva degli Schiavoni, 4171, 30122 Venice, Italy
Telephone: +39 041 520 0533
Website: londrapalace.com

Getty Images - Dan Kitwood
VISIT SAN GIORGIO MAGGIORE ISLAND
One of Venice’s best-known landmarks is St Mark’s bell tower, the Campanile. Rather than queue for hours to visit it, however, hop across to San Giorgio Maggiore. The marble-fronted church there was designed by Andrea Palladio, who lived on the small island for 20 years. There’s almost no queue to get to the top of the 60-metre campanile and its spellbinding views of St Mark’s and the Doge’s Palace.
Afterwards, pop into the church itself to see two Tintoretto masterpieces. Once the site of a Benedictine monastery and former military academy under Napoleon, the nearby Fondazione Giorgio Cini has been the scene of many great Film Festival parties, including one memorable Vanity Fair do held during a swirling rainstorm. The stunning gardens were designed by Palladio and include a maze inspired by the story ‘The Garden of the Forking Paths’ by Jorge Luis Borges.
Getty Images - Dan Kitwood
CHECK OUT THE ART BIENNALE
The Venice Biennale is an unmissable extravaganza that has been held for more than 120 years. Installations and artworks from 80 different countries are set up in the various national pavilions in the Giardini and the Arsenale, the converted 16th-century naval shipworks where 16,000 workers once toiled. For 2019 it’s the turn of the Art Biennale.
Ralph Rugoff, of London’s Hayward Gallery, curated the current edition under the theme of May You Live in Interesting Times. A must-see is David Adjaye’s intriguing Ghana Pavilion with its curving galleries plastered using earth, and the Russian Pavilion with its melancholic re-imagining of one of the Hermitage Collection’s Rembrandt paintings, while in the cinematic French Pavilion you make a memorable exit to the sound of operatic song and a haze of vapour.
Above: Lion of San Marco, symbol of Venice and featured at the Venice Film festival
Address: Giardini della Biennale, Sestiere Castello, 30122 Venice, Italy
Telephone: +39 041 521 8711
Website: labiennale.org
Geoffrey Taunton- Alamy Stock Photo
VISIT THE PEGGY GUGGENHEIM COLLECTION
After tragically losing her father on the Titanic, heiress Peggy Guggenheim went on to become one of the greatest art collectors of the 20th century. Her palatial canalside home, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, showcases her stockpile of surrealist, futurist and abstract expressionist works by more than 200 artists, including her ex-husband Max Ernst, Jackson Pollock, Picasso and Salvador Dalí.
The new museum director is Peggy’s granddaughter, Karole Vail, who hosts an exclusive annual private Film Festival lunch on the rooftop of the gallery, which is always well attended by visiting actors. If you’re not on the guest list, the rooftop is also available for private hire, or you can enjoy a lunch in the museum café – the vitello tonnato (veal and tuna) is highly recommended.
Address: Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Dorsoduro 70, I-30123 Venice, Italy
Telephone: +39 041 2405 411
Website: guggenheim-venice.it
Getty Images
HAVE LUNCH AT LOCANDA CIPRIANI
Locanda Cipriani on the island of Torcello, the first Venetian island to be inhabited, is a very popular restaurant with festival-goers. It’s surprisingly still and peaceful, with sheep often grazing around its pretty town square. A visit to the island is best combined with an early-morning sightseeing trip to the glass-blowing factory on nearby Murano or the fishing village of Burano with its brightly coloured houses and leaning San Martino bell-tower.
The restaurant is set in a garden shaded by vines, with a delightful view of the 7th-century cathedral. A favourite of the Queen, Michael Caine and Elton John (not often together), the garden is the scene of many marriage proposals. There’s also Attila’s Throne in the nearby cathedral courtyard – there are numerous legends associated with it, one of them being that whoever sits on it will be married within a year. In the restaurant’s visitors’ book, George Clooney has drawn a doodle of the maître d’ alongside a handwritten caption that reads, ‘A perfect afternoon. Thank you.’
Address: Locanda Cipriani, Piazza Santa Fosca, 29, 30142 Torcello, Venice, Italy
Telephone: +39 041 730150
Website: locandacipriani.com
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