a new restaurant arrives. The license? It cost half a million

VENICE – A coat of paint, in the end, also erased the historic sign, in gold letters, of the “Agency 3 Savings Bank”. Last memory of a banking presence that had characterized Campo Santa Margherita for over seventy years. Passed from Carive to the branches of Intesa San Paolo, definitively closed in 2021. Now even in these spaces everything is ready for the opening of a new restaurant. It will be called “Regina Cornaro”, like the hotel that for some years has occupied the upper floors of the beautiful fourteenth-century building in the campo. To open it – given the block on licenses that the Municipality has imposed in the so-called micro-zone of Santa Margherita – the company that will soon rent the space and has just finished renovating it, has also purchased another license nearby. That of a bar run by Chinese, two registers away, which has already closed its doors. At a price of between 400 and 500 thousand euros. It was the last obstacle. Now the new restaurant is expected to open by the end of the month.

Venetian nightlife

Emblematic story of the transformation of this field, which was among the most experienced by the Venetians, characterized as it was by the typical neighborhood shops: from the butcher to the haberdashery, from the toy shop to the bakery, up to the bank itself. Today they are all closed to make way for activities linked to tourism and nightlife, with an advance in food in particular, which the licensing block itself has struggled to stem, between “disguised” delicatessens and venues that are expanding from register to register. And so even the preparations for the opening of this new restaurant have already made more than one resident turn up their noses. «But mine will be a high-level venue – assures Arjan Nezhaj, the entrepreneur directing this operation – It will be an improvement for the camp: I have closed a Chinese bar and I will open a quality restaurant».

Half a million euro license

Albanian origins, in Italy for 34 years, Nezhaj is proud to have been the first VAT number of his country opened in the Municipality of Venice. He has a construction company, deals with real estate, and more recently opened the three-star “Regina Cornaro”, the first hotel in Campo Santa Margherita. Now double with the restaurant. «I was forced to do it. Another local in the camp was interested in those spaces that remained empty after the bank closed and wanted to open a second bar – he says – they would only bring noise day and night. It would have been the end for my hotel. So I rented it myself. Mine will be a quality venue, well frequented. We will do Venetian cuisine, meat and fish.” Nezhaj is keen to reiterate that his club will not be just another venue added to the many in the camp. «We bought the license for the Chinese bar, which we closed down. How much did it cost us? A lot, luckily the payment is in installments.” A few hundred thousand euros? «Even 400-500 thousand» he points out.

Outside tables

In this first phase the “Regina Cornaro” will be able to count on external tables to be placed in the internal courtyard of the building. But in the future you also count on getting a portion of the audience on the field. The current plan did not include this for the bank, it is yet to be understood whether the new venue will be able to “inherit” it from the bar from which it purchased the license. «I will apply and I hope that the Municipality will accept it – continues the entrepreneur – Over the years I have given a lot to the Venetian community, for example I have financed various football clubs, particularly youth ones. Venice is indebted to me and I have never asked anyone for anything. My business will also be an improvement for Santa Margherita. I hope and believe that sooner or later they will give it to me.” As for the historic Carive sign, which in recent months the journalist Maurizio Crovato had asked to be kept as a reminder of the past, Nezhaj opens his arms: «I’m sorry but I certainly couldn’t call my restaurant “Agenzia 3”. Better “Regina Cornaro”, who lived in this palace.”

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