The Lido

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"The secret of the Lido is simply your sense of adjacent Venice." Henry James

The Lido is a seven-mile-long sandbar, which acts as a vital buffer between the lagoon and the open sea. 

The Lido is home to the church of San Nicolò al Lido. 
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In 1386 the Jewish community in Venice was given land on the Lido to create a cemetery. This cemetery closed in the 17th century, but another was later opened in an adjacent area. 

In 1857 the first sea bathing facility was opened on the Lido and life on the island, as Henry James lamented, changed forever. The Lido quickly became the most fashionable seaside resort in Italy.  Its two most famous hotels, the Grand Hotel des Bains and the Grand Hotel Excelsior, were built in the first decade of the twentieth century. The Hotel des Bains was the setting for Thomas Mann's novella Death in Venice (1913). The same hotel was used by the director, Luchino Visconti, when, in 1971, he turned the book into a film. The hotel closed down in 2008, a year before its first centenary. 

Each year, at the end of August, the Lido hosts the Venice International Film Festival, which was established in 1932. The Palazzo del Cinema (1936-38) was built in the fascist style by Eugenio Miozzi, who also designed the neighbouring Palazzo del Casinò (1936-38). Venice's casino moves to the Lido in the summer months. ​

San Nicolò al Lido

Hotel Des Bains

Jewish Cemetery