The lure of the lagoon from the days of the Serenissima to today: a weekend in Mestre

Once upon a time there was a wise old man named Antenore, who, having fled from ancient Troy in ruins, set off wandering the seas. At a certain point he decided to take refuge on the mainland, in a green and welcoming region, which he called Veneto and where he founded the city of Padua. With him was also the young prince Mesthle, son of the king of the Eneti (the people from whom the Veneti would descend), who settled instead by a wood facing the Lagoon, founding a fortified town that he named, after himself, Mestre. This is a legend, but its source is highly respectable: Homer's Iliad.

Although the precise origins of this municipality, an independent comune until 1926, are lost in the mists of time, it is known for certain that already in the 4th century there was, near Mestre, a staging post for changing horses, and some hundreds of years later the area, having become borderland between the Holy Roman Empire and the Duchy of Venice, acquired that strategic importance it still retains today.

Mestre is one of the most visited places in the world, full stop: millions of tourists pass through it, and if today you mostly arrive by motorway, in the past the traffic was of a similar volume but quieter, since much of it took place by water, for example along the Canal Salso, built in the 14th century, which reached from the lagoon into the heart of the village.

The streets we walk along during our stroll through the centre were partly navigable in those days. From the very central Piazza Maggiore, today named after the partisan Erminio Ferretto, a waterway left, called “Brenta vecchia”, which allowed boats loaded with goods to reach even Padua. In this square, where there was also a historic market, stand some of Mestre's main monuments, including the Duomo of San Lorenzo, built on an ancient parish church, first mentioned in 1152 and rebuilt in the 18th century. On the other side of the square rises the town's civic symbol, the Clock Tower. Erected in 1108, it was originally a tower-house, and was later incorporated into the Castelnuovo, the fortress built in the 14th century to replace the Castelvecchio, demolished in the 15th century. Still in the square we also admire the Palazzo da Re, whose portico once housed the grain market.

Our walk takes us even further back in history when we visit the church of San Girolamo, Mestre's oldest religious building. Behind the church the remains of the Torresino, another of the Castelnuovo's towers, have recently been found.

After this long tour through the beauties of the past, we reach our home for this weekend: Ai Pini Park Hotel, set in a vast and peaceful park, about a ten-minute walk from Mestre station and a quarter of an hour by car from the centre of Venice. We leave the car in the large car park and settle into our elegant, bright rooms, equipped with every comfort, including free Internet access. The utmost care for detail and a natural affinity with beauty characterise every area of the hotel, where, besides lovely flowers, you can also admire the paintings of the Venetian artist Carla Erizzo. Before dinner we treat ourselves to a walk in the hotel's park, a true natural oasis, and we stay outdoors during dinner too, choosing, thanks to the fine weather, to sit in the gazebo on the patio facing the park. Throughout the year, the elegant indoor dining room welcomes up to eighty people.

Once at the table, we have the chance to chat with the owners, whose kindness and skill immediately put us at ease: Giovanni Baldo and his wife Roberta Ferrari. “Our family started out as hoteliers twenty years ago, and the current layout of Ai Pini Park Hotel, with 48 rooms, and of Ristorante Al Parco is thanks to a careful extension and renovation of the premises, carried out in 2001,” they explain.

The same care and attention to detail and quality that allowed the hotel-restaurant to win important awards we also find at the table, enjoying exquisite Venetian specialities prepared with seasonal produce. The very skilful chef Alessandro, able to satisfy every palate (including, recently, that of a great singer who revealed at the last moment that she was vegan), delights us, among other things, with scallops, homemade pasta first courses, a sea bass braid as beautiful as it is good, and mixed grills of fresh fish, not to mention the irresistible desserts.

If in the past Mestre was an important reference point for travellers, from now on it will be for us too: we'll gladly return, perhaps for a party or a food event organised in this wonderful location.

Text: Francesca Bertha Consultancy and town photographs: Stefano Zanus

FOR INFORMATION:

Ai Pini Park Hotel Via Miranese, 176 Venezia Mestre (VE) Tel.: 041/917722