Venice is full of fabulous hotels, one better than the other. I chose to stay at the Bauer Hotel for the following reasons: it is within a stone’s throw of St Mark’s Square and more important I had heard the executive chef, Chef Giovanni Ciresa stirred up some divine fare. Also the hotel had undergone a major restoration amounting to 25 million dollars in one wing and 50 million in another by the owner of the property, Francesca Bortolotto Possati, a young and dynamic heiress who is also the CEO and I was curious to see how an 18th century palazzo could have been renovated, infusing modernity and yet retaining its old world class and charm. There are two wings to Bauer, Bauer Il Palazzo and Bauer L’Hotel. Three, if you count the adjoining Bauer Casa Nova, which offers nine spacious well equipped apartments in true Venetian style, along with 10 double rooms.

Francesca is the granddaughter of Arnaldo Bennati, a shipbuilder, who purchased the older part of the two enjoined hotels way back in 1930, and built the new one. Indeed, the renovation was a difficult job, well executed. In keeping with the original artistic integrity of the Hotels, Francesca sought out and commissioned local artisans, well versed in time honoured crafts that have beautified Venice over the centuries, to adorn her properties, with startling results. It is apparent Francesca is a dynamic woman and it isn’t any wonder that the entire hotel staff is in awe of her.

Well, I became a fan of hers for a lot simpler but definitely a very crucial-to-the-success-of-any-hotel, reason. Her sensible approach to food being served at the Bauer, most specifically at its gourmet restaurant De Pisis, which has a wonderful sun deck overlooking the Grand Canal. To preserve her hotels’s culinary heritage, Francesca had instructed Chef Gioavanni Ciresca to find fresh, local ingredients and create menus around them. That’s a fairly rare innovation for most Italian restaurants. I enjoyed myself immensely at De Pisis, where the chef spoilt me silly by cooking tasting portions of all his favourite food on the menu, specially for me. Here is what I ate: Spider Crab and Sea Asparagus Cannoli, Squash blossom and Zucchini, Tuna marinated with Soy Sauce with Flower, Herb & Vegetable Salad with Raspberry dressing, Scallops with Veal Cartilage and Lime, Pak-Choy and toasted Peanuts, Cuttlefish ink Gnocchetti with wild Sprouts, Angler Fish with Lemon and candied Onion, smoked Potatoes, I loved the attention and sat back and basked in the warm sun, between courses, as the waters of the canal lapped at the deck and gondoliers waved and sang and glided by. Ah, sometimes time can stand still, all you need is a sincere chef around, a peaceful, no fuss atmosphere, an un-muddled mind and a glass of precesco. Venice is the place and being at Bauer helps.

The good life did not end with the leisurely lunch that Chef Ciresa offered me. After strolling around Campo San Moise, the square just outside the hotel, window shopping at the elegant shops, sitting by a tiny bridge on a narrow canal watching the world go by, I returned to De Pisis, right next to which is the main entrance of Bauer Il Palazzo directly on the Grand Canal. From here I got into a sleek boat, B Mare, the first solar powered vaporetto of the island commune, to go across to Bauer Palladio Hotel and Spa, for a body, mind and soul treatment. The moment you step into this incredible building you sense quietness. And learn soon after that it used to be a convent long, long ago. So long that it was left abandoned for over a hundred years after it stopped being a convent. Trust the visionary Francesca Bortolotto Possati to see the potential and add it to her clutch of properties, making it her newest acquisition.

If peace and quiet is what you are seeking, Palladio is perfect. There was a quality around which was soothing, healing, and the manager Helene Lobel couldn’t have been better picked. She has an aura which was an extension of what Palladio stands for, gentleness.

From Helene I learnt that the building was designed in the second half of the XVI century by the world renowned Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. Now converted, this former convent has become a rare jewel in Venice with fifty rooms, each uniquely designed, facing the breathtaking lagoon and private gardens. Some of the rooms I saw were happy ones, with floral painted walls and elegant tapestries.

The Spa area itself was situated in a private side and featured first-class wellness therapies and beauty treatments including special massages and facials. The Spa is associated with Daniela Steiner’s Skin Care System, trusted by the world’s most sophisticated guests for the utmost in nourishment and rejuvenation.