Destinations

VILLA MICHELANGELO
This beautifull Villa is located in Arcugnano (five miles outside Vicenza). A lovely 52 room property with a “Palladian” look and panoramic views. In the morning, when opening their lovely green shutters, we could see the snow covered hills of the Dolomites.

Their restaurant “La Loggia” offers the finest regional cuisine. I great place from which to  visit the beautiful Palladian Villas. Also nearby is Verona and Lago di Garda. There is  an 18 hole golf course nearby, Golf Club Colli Berici.

A secluded country retreat and a perfect place to stay after visiting the busy and crowded city of Venice.

VILLA MARGHERITA and VILLA FRANCESCHI, both owned by the Dal Corso family. Located in Mira with easy access to Venice. Mira also has wonderful shoe outlets!!

VILLA MARGHERITA – 17th Century. 19 roomsOn the banks of the Brenta River built as a residence for a noble family. More of a Country Inn than a Villa. Very personalized service. One could easily stay here and take daytrips into Venice. 

VILLA FRANCESCHI  has 22 rooms in two buildings, the Barchessa and the Pardonale, surrounded by a large park. Very large bedrooms beautifully decorated with antique furniture. The  diningroom  tables were set with Murano drinking glasses and there was also a special display of exquisite Murano pieces.

VILLA DEL QUAR a Renaissance villa 12 miles north of Verona, 28 rooms.  A Relais & Chateaux property with a 2 star Michelin restaurant surrounded by vineyards and gardens.  This is the Valpolicella wine region and there was a beautiful wine cellar for tastings and purchases of the local wines. On one side of the villa there is a  large swimming pool, with a gazebo bar, for the hot summer days.

PALAZZO  CA’ SAGREDO in Venice, located on the Grand Canal between the Rialto Bridge and Ca’ D’oro . 42 roomsThis is a National Monument which was closed for 50 years and has just undergone a 7 year renovation. No expense was spared in this renovation. A gigantic staircase with ceiling frescos from 1734 leads up to the greeting area. Everything is on a large scale and this was,to me, the most impressive of the Palazzos I visited in Venice. And the Rialto area is fun and trendy. 

JDB offers a Baer Esccape credit of $15.00 for each room night at each of the following properties between now and April 30, 2009.Villa Michelangelo, Villa del Quar, Villa Margherita and Villa Franceschi.

I grew up in a small neighbor few yards away from the main historic center of town. I remember my mother taking me to the Borghese Gardens to play in warm summer afternoons and on Sunday all family would attending the afternoon mass in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, where, between the tombs that lay beneath the pavement, there are some amazing paintings of Caravaggio and Pinturicchio.

After mass, on special and happy occasions, we would go for lunch at a small restaurant located across the street from Piazza del Popolo on a little street called Via Margutta. Via Margutta runs parallel to the now elegant Via del Babuino, the street that connects Piazza del Popolo with Piazza di Spagna and the famous steps of Trinita dei Monti. I always loved Via Margutta, off of the beaten tracks rather than the more famous Via del Corso and Via del Babuino, it has a more typical roman flavor, laid back and relaxed. It has always been the streets of Painters and Artists, a little like Montmartre in Paris. My grandfather – who was always involved with artists and whose office was in Piazza di Spagna -  knew many of them…and knew they all congregated at this particular restaurant on Sunday. The restaurant is still there, it’s called Osteria Margutta, and the atmosphere was still the same when I stopped for lunch few months ago.

The street is now peppered with little art galleries and ceramic stores. Every last week in October the  street is filled with art works for a street fair, called  the Festival of the 100 Painters (Festival dei Cento Pittori). It is a chance to admire original works of art and maybe discover new talents. The Hotel de Russie is just around the corner and so is also houses one of new up and coming restaurants in Rome, the Margutta Vegetariano, a full vegetarian restaurant. You can also stay right in Via Margutta, where two family run bed and breakfasts are located both refurbished and upgraded: The Hotel Forte and the Hotel Manfredi. For more upscale Hotels in the area, try the Mozart, in Via dei Greci, the Locarno near Piazza del Popolo and the very nice Piranesi, in via del Babuino, opposite the Grand Hotel de Russie.

Venice — a classic, long in history, romance and visions of canals, gondolas and glass-made products. Today the city is vibrantly full of visitors trying to sample their ’sense of past’ in the present. Palazzos in muted shades of ochre, pink, dusky light browns face the Grand Canal teeming with water-borne craft plying their trade — delivery of goods, police and ambulance services rushing to vital destinations, taxi boats and public waterbuses taking people from one place to another. Catch a ‘tragetto gondola’ ferry from one side of the canal to the other, joining the locals going to market or just getting easily across to the ‘other side’ of town. This is a busy busy town filled with historic churches, grand buildings and a slightly decayed façade facing the challenge of the tides of time.