Mostra District Street / Area

Mostra District, the Lido's cinema side

On the waterfront of the Lido of Venice, around the Lungomare Marconi, stands a whole complex linked to the history of the Venice Mostra: Palazzo del Cinema, Palazzo del Casinò, Hotel Excelsior and several halls used during the festival. Away from the bustle of the Mostra, this area remains interesting for its 20th-century architecture and for what it tells of the Lido's golden age as a seaside resort.

The story begins at the Hotel Excelsior, a spectacular palace opened in 1908 facing the Adriatic. It was on its terrace that, from 6 to 21 August 1932, the first International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art organized by the Biennale took place, the forerunner of today's Mostra. The festival is thus the oldest international film event still held today and remains, with Cannes and Berlin, one of the major global festivals.

Following the success of the event, a building specially designed for cinema was constructed a few years later. Designed by Luigi Quagliata in the modernist and rationalist language of the time, the Palazzo del Cinema was inaugurated on 10 August 1937. Its Sala Grande, today with just over 1,000 seats, hosts the main premieres, ceremonies and award presentations. The adjacent Sala Darsena completes this complex of halls dedicated to the festival.

Palazzo del Casinò, the district's other monument

Right next door, the Palazzo del Casinò is probably the most monumental building of the complex. Built in 1938 to a design by engineer Eugenio Miozzi, it also belongs to rationalist architecture, but with a clearly more spectacular ambition. Behind its severe travertine facade are vast lounges adorned with marbles, artistic glass, mirrors and decorations far more sumptuous than the exterior suggests. The former casino is today used in particular by the Biennale for screenings, press conferences and events.

The Hotel Excelsior completes this landscape with a completely different architectural language. Its facades inspired by Moorish motifs, its domes and terraces recall the fashionable Lido of the Belle Époque, when the island was one of the great European seaside resorts. The contrast between this 1908 palace and the rationalist volumes built thirty years later allows one to read, within a few hundred metres, two essential periods of the Lido's modern history.

Visit: Outside events, the interiors of the Palazzo del Cinema and the Palazzo del Casinò are not freely accessible at all times. The interest lies rather in the architectural and cinematic stroll, between the Excelsior, the Mostra palaces, the waterfront and the beaches. For lovers of cinema or 20th-century architecture, the complex is clearly worth a detour during a visit to the Lido.

Sources and further information

La Biennale di Venezia – Palazzo del Cinema ; La Biennale di Venezia – Palazzo del Casinò ; La Biennale di Venezia – History of the Mostra ; Hotel Excelsior Venice Lido – History.