(Arv) Venice 14 May. 2024 – Palazzo Ferro Fini, the headquarters on the Grand Canal of the Veneto Regional Council, recalls an unprecedented chapter in its history with an exhibition. For a century, between 1868 and 1968, the double palace, already a prestigious noble residence of the Contarini-Ferro-Manolesso and Flangini-Fini families, was the most prestigious hotel in Venice, a beacon in the standards of luxury of the time, a destination of royalty, aristocrats, heads of state, writers, artists and entertainment stars. “Grand Hotel Venezia: one hundred years, from dream hotel to institutional headquarters” is the evocative title of the exhibition, curated by Franca Lugato and sponsored by the Municipality of Venice, which from Wednesday 15 May to 30 November 2024 tells the story with photos, films, objects and documents a compelling page in the history of Venice, a world pioneer of high-class tourism. The photographic and documentary itinerary, divided into three floors of the complex overlooking the Grand Canal, offers photos and films from the archives of the Municipality of Venice, IPAV, Alinari, Luce and British Pathé and from private archives, as well as period objects and documents coming from private collections and from the unpublished collection of Ciga objects created by the cultural association “Le memoria della Compagnia Italiana Grandi Alberghi”. Visitors are accompanied to relive the centrality of a noble residence, purchased in 1860 by the Ivancich dynasty of Dalmatian shipowners, and which became – with the adjoining Palazzo Gritti (formerly Swift) – the most luxurious hotel in Venice, where History (with the capital S) made a stop. Among the illustrious presences of the Grande Albergo, managed in the twentieth century by CIGA and then by SAIGAT, the Emperor of Austria Franz Joseph and the King of Italy Vittorio Emanuele II, the Duce and the Führer, the foreign ministers of the Balkan countries and of Central Europe, the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the English Minister of War Duff Cooper, the Dukes of Kent, Princess Anne of Denmark. A large section of the exhibition is dedicated to glamour: stars and divas from the ‘beautiful world’ of cinema, entertainment and the aristocracy of Italy and Europe met at the Grand Hotel Venezia, attracted by the Art Biennale, from the Contemporary Music Festival and the International Film Art Exhibition which since the 1930s has been the great magnet for international-class tourism at the Lido and San Marco. The portraits of men of culture – from Manet to Pirandello with his ‘muse’ Marta Abba – of immortal stars such as Cary Grant and Tyrone Power, and of an unforgettable couple in the history of cinema, Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini, return to inhabit the rooms and living rooms that hosted famous guests. Among the suggestions offered by the exhibition there is also the magical night of the ‘Gran Ballo del Secolo’, a grandiose costume party organized on 3 September 1951 to celebrate the restoration of Palazzo Labia: a thousand aristocrats, stars and magnates of Europe and America met on the Grand Canal for an event of luxury, fashion and social life which for months animated the news of the international jet set. “We are proud to open the doors of the headquarters of the Legislative Assembly of Veneto to visitors – they say the President of the Veneto Regional Council and the General Secretary of the Legislative Assembly, creator of the exhibition – and to be able to give back to the Venetians and all those who love Venice a testimony of the vitality of a city, capable of innovating its functions and of keeping baptism entrepreneurial stories, brands and events that have been trailblazers in the world, such as the Compagnia Italiana Grandi Alberghi and the Mostra del Cinema. The ‘creative’ restoration which transformed the former Grand Hotel into the institutional headquarters of the Regional Council allows us to continue reading this story of culture, art and refinement and testifies to how the ‘public’ knows how to take care of and give continuity to such a monumental legacy important given to us by the Ivancich family and Venetian entrepreneurship”. In addition to the president and general secretary of the Venetian Council, the councilor for economic development and tourism of the Municipality of Venice, the ambassador Giacomo Ivancich Biaggini and his niece Irina Ivancich Marchesi representing the Ivancich family, attended the opening of the exhibition. the curator of the exhibition, the lenders and the sponsors. The Gritti Palace Hotel, heir to the Grand Hotel Venezia, offered the cocktail in the rooms of the Royal Suite, which today houses the offices of the Presidency and the General Secretariat. The exhibition can be visited every day from Monday to Friday, 10am-5pm, free admission. Catalog published by Fabrizio Berger and Carlo Sordillo, edited by the Veneto Regional Council, with rich photographic apparatus and texts by Mario Isnenghi, Irina Ivancich Biaggini, Ewa Kawamura, Franca Lugato, Margherita Carniello, Franco Posocco.
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