Hotel Excelsior Venice

After Ford's question, Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, then chairman of the hotel company CIGA, picked out 100 hectares of wind-swept sandy dunes at Alberoni, the southern tip of the Lido. Scottish architect Cruikshank laid out the first nine holes and the club opened in 1930. In 1951 it became an 18-hole, par-72 course, designed by C.K. Cotton.

The first tee sits by an Austrian fort, which, together with former barracks and stables, forms the core of the clubhouse. The course threads between dunes, maritime pines and the lagoon, and has hosted the Italian Open in 1955, 1960 and 1974, plus four Italian Seniors Opens from 2004 to 2007.

The hotel puts the drive at about 20 minutes. Guest Relations books tee times, arranges the transfer by car, taxi or water taxi, and handles equipment hire.

The Excelsior opened on 21 July 1908 with a beach party for 3,000 guests. Architect Giovanni Sardi designed it for entrepreneur Nicolò Spada: Moorish arches, Venetian detailing, Belle Époque confidence. It is now run by Iconic Hotels & Resorts, which has begun a restoration.

Rooms start at 25 m² for the courtyard-facing Classics and go up to the 150 m² Lido Two Bedroom Suite facing the Adriatic; some suites look across the lagoon to Venice instead. There is a Family Room, a summer kids' programme, tennis courts and water sports. There is no spa: massages are booked in your room.

The hotel is seasonal. The beach, with 300 cabanas and Blue Flag water, is open to guests from late May to mid-September; the hotel calls it the only private beach in Venice. Sunbeds are included, and cabanas are best booked ahead.

In season a free shuttle boat leaves the private pier every half hour from 9am to 9pm and lands near San Marco; the hotel puts the crossing at fifteen minutes. From Marco Polo airport a private water taxi delivers you to the same pier. In September the pace changes: the Venice Film Festival red carpet is rolled out in front of the hotel.

The Excelsior Terrace serves lunch, aperitivo and dinner facing the Adriatic. Breakfast is at Elimar, on a terrace above the beach, while the Venetian-blue Blue Bar has been the late-night haunt of actors and critics during the Festival for decades. The pool bar, for hotel guests only, serves light lunches into the afternoon, and the hotel has announced a new restaurant, Amù Venice.

• The first Venice Film Festival opened here in 1932 with a screening of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, followed by a ball on the terrace.
• Once Upon a Time in America: the hotel's Sala Stucchi is the setting for a private dinner scene in Sergio Leone's film.
• Princess Diana arrived by water taxi; before her, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale passed beneath the arches.
• Palmer, Ballesteros and Trevino have all played the Alberoni links, where the Leone di San Marco amateur trophy has been contested every year since 1953.
• Blue Bar cocktails are named after Festival classics.