Words by Pat Eggleton
There are those who drop the idea of a June wedding into an everyday conversation, as if they were asking you if you’d like them to take the rubbish out, there are those who might flatteringly suggest,
“Well, old thing, look here, I think we should get – err- spliced”
and there are those who plan every beautiful detail of the day they will ask the most important question of their lives.
For these chivalrous souls there is no better venue than the Palazzo Barbarigo hotel in Venice.
According to the hotel booking site, Mr & Mrs Smith - and there’s no mistaking which famous couple the site managers had in mind when they set it up – this hotel is the most romantic setting in the world in which to go down on one knee and ask for your beloved’s hand in marriage. After all, if you are going to go down on one knee, you might as well do it in comfort.
The Palazzo Barbarigo, built in 1569, is on the Grand Canal and is a short walk from the Rialto Bridge. A twenty-minute walk will take you to the Piazza San Marco. The hotel has a private landing stage and is today decorated in luxurious art deco style.
There are 18 rooms, each of which has a Grand Canal view and six of these are deluxe junior suites. Two suites have views of both the Grand Canal and the San Polo district. This, says the website, is “an uber-seductive lovers’ hideaway”.
When she – or he – has said “Yes”, why not come back for the wedding? You can hire the entire building for weddings and other special occasions and enjoy all the “dark Venetian romance” of the setting for your honeymoon.
