For over 80 years now the Venice International Film Festival has attracted the world’s most glamorous and famous crowd. In the 1950s, it saw Brigitte Bardot pose for paparazzi while sitting on grass, and Elizabeth Taylor take a dip in the lido at Hotel Excelsior Venice. Fast forward to today and it’s just as star-studded, with the 83rd Venice International Film Festival hosting an array of actors, supermodels and musicians, from Laura Dern to Robert Pattinson, Irina Shayk and Liam Gallagher.
Much of the red carpet action takes place at Hotel Excelsior Venice, which has hosted the main event since 1932. Notably, following a three-year closure, the hotel reopened last year (2025), to reveal a grand renovation and thus many of this year’s attendees – Kate Mara, Claire Foy, Maggie Gyllenhaal – have also chosen to stay in the boldly striped suites.
It’s not the only top hotel in Venice that is known to host film festival attendees. The A-listers that prefer something more private often book into one of the 24 opulent rooms within Aman Venice – not only do the Clooneys love to stay here, they also married in the Palazzo Papadopoli location in 2014. To be even further removed and escape the flashes of paparazzi, Hotel Cipriani, A Belmond Hotel, Venice sits on the eastern tip of the Giudecca island. Its peaceful location has been a long- time favourite for the world’s most famous stars, with previous guests including Sophia Loren, Cary Grant, and more recently Jennifer Lawrence and Lady Gaga.
