Our Story
Since 1908
Since 1908, Hotel Excelsior has stood at the edge of the Adriatic, welcoming the world to the Lido. Arrive by boat and you feel it straight away. The air changes. The horizon opens up. Venice is 15 minutes across the lagoon, but it already feels a world away.
Origins: 1908
A landmark on the sand. On 21 July 1908, the Excelsior opened with a beachfront celebration for 3,000 guests. Designed by architect Giovanni Sardi for entrepreneur Nicolò Spada, the hotel was a statement from day one. Venetian elegance with Moorish influence, made for sea air, open sky, and the kind of arrival that stays with you.
Design & Architecture
Striking, timeless design The Excelsior was conceived as a seaside landmark, and it still wears it well. Moorish arches, Venetian detail, and Belle Époque confidence in every line. Look closer and it rewards you. Step back and it holds the whole scene. More than a century on, it still feels like nowhere else.
1932: Home of the Venice Film Festival
The Festival begins here.
In 1932, the Venice Film Festival began at the Excelsior, with a screening of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde followed by a grand ball hosted in the hotel and on the terrace. Since then, late summer on the Lido has had its own rhythm. Arrivals at the private pier. Flashbulbs. Then morning again. Quiet, sea, space.
Red Carpet Stories
When the Lido becomes a stage Each September, the Lido takes on a different energy. Golden light, cinematic tension, and the red carpet stretching out in front of the hotel like a promise. It’s more than spectacle. It’s ritual. A choreography of pauses and poise, where every entrance becomes a moment, and the Excelsior sits right at the centre of it.
Star guests, then and now
For over a century, the Excelsior has been the kind of place people choose when they want comfort, privacy, and a little distance from the noise. Then each September, the Lido shifts into a different mode. The Venice Film Festival arrives, and the hotel finds itself at the centre of it, with the red carpet unfurling outside and the easiest seat in the house just beyond the doors. In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, the Excelsior became part of cinema’s visual language. Names like Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale passed beneath the arches and out into the Venetian light, turning arrivals into moments people still talk about. The roll call continues. The hotel has seen unforgettable entrances, from Lady Diana arriving by water taxi to more recent appearances from Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton, and today’s icons including Zendaya, Harry Styles, George Clooney and Timothée Chalamet. What changes each year is the style of the era.
Once Upon a Time in America
The Excelsior doesn’t just host cinema. It has been part of it. The Sala Stucchi appears in Once Upon a Time in America, a space chosen for a private dinner scene that feels as grand as it looks. It’s still the same room today. Arched windows, Murano light, the Adriatic beyond. You don’t need to know the scene to understand why it was filmed here.
The beach at the heart of it
From the first seasons on the Lido to the most glamorous weeks of the year, the Excelsior beach has been where the hotel’s story becomes real. 300 Iconic cabanas. Blue Flag water. Open sky. Space to do very little, beautifully. Venice is 15 minutes away. The Adriatic is right in front of you. You can have both.
