The Westin Excelsior

Since July 21st 1908, day of the opening, the Westin Excelsior has always been the focal point of the Lido. The “roaring twenties” saw the Excelsior and the Lido of Venice become one of the most famous leisure venues in the world. It is in this period that Count Volpi di Misurata and the management of La Biennale together decided that “Cinema” was ripe to become officially an art and deserves its own Festival: thus in August 1932 on the Terrace of the Hotel Excelsior the first edition of one of the most famous Film Festival in the world was held. Over the years innumerable distinguished guests have stayed at the Westin Excelsior, from Barbara Hutton to Paola and Albert of Liège, from Erroll Flynn to the Duke of Windsor, from Don Carlos of Bestegui to Winston Churchill, as well as many stars of the world of cinema especially during the Venice Film Festival.

Built in an extravagant and fascinating Moorish Style, in 1914 the hotel had an important intervention: the construction of the famous Sala Stucchi that has been the set for one scene of the film “Once upon a time in America” directed by Sergio Leone.

The Moorish style of the Westin Excelsior’s architecture is echoed  in all the hotel’s 175 elegant and spacious double rooms and its 18 memorably luxurious suites. All the rooms offer an exquisite welcome and an impeccable service in elegant décor and the exclusive Westin services such as the Heavenly Bed and the Heavenly Shower, Service Express®, Westin Kids Club®, Westin Travel Guide, and WestinWORKOUT. Moreover, today, the guests of hotel find at their disposal the new In Room Spa Program by Westin, which brings the personalized luxury and comfort of a full-service spa to the privacy of their hotel room.

The Westin Excelsior offers its guests an incomparable series of sporting activities and facilities: from the private beach with its 400 luxuriously comfortable white huts to a full range of water-sports facilities, from the large swimming-pool to the six tennis courts at the nearby Tennis Club. Then there are the 18 holes of the Venice Golf Club at Alberoni, 10 minutes away.