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Alloggi Marinella Hotel Review

The Alloggi Marinella, a.k.a. the Locanda Marinella, is a lovely small hotel on a quiet neighborhood street near the Piazzale Roma, which is served by airport buses, taxis, and the People Mover to the Marittima cruise piers and the Tronchetto parking garage.

Alloggi Marinella on Rio Terra dei Pensieri

ABOVE: The Alloggi Marinella (a.k.a. the Locanda Marinella) is on the Rio Terà dei Pensieri, a quiet neighborhood street near the Piazzale Roma.


Normally we rent an apartment during our extended stays in Venice, but on one occasion, we needed a hotel for two nights before an MSC Eastern Mediterranean cruise. We wanted to be within a stone's throw of the Piazzale Roma, where airport buses and taxis arrive from Venice Marco Polo Airport, and where shuttle buses and the People Mover offer quick access to the Marittima cruise basin.

After weighing our options (see our Venice Cruise Terminal Hotels article), we settled on the Alloggi Marinella, also known as the Locanda Marinella.

The first-class inn (roughly equivalent to a three-star hotel)  is just across a bridge and a few meters down a quiet side street from the Piazzale Roma, and we were able to reserve a double superior room with a private patio at a discount rate through our hotel partner, Booking.com.

Cheryl Imboden at Alloggi MarinellaOur two-night stay was extremely pleasant. The Alloggi Marinella was easy to reach f rom the airport bus, and we were able to walk easily into Venice's historic center during our visit.

On our day of departure, it was a quick walk to the Piazzale Roma and the People Mover. (See our step-by-step walking directions below.)

Tips:

To check rates or book a room, see Booking.com's Alloggi Marinella pages.


More photos:

Rio Terra dei Pensieri

The Alloggi Marinella is on the Rio Terà dei Pensieri, a wide tree-lined neighborhood street that's only a couple of minutes on foot from the Piazzale Roma. ("Rio terà" is Venetian dialect for "filled-in canal.")


Alloggi Locanda Marinella

The reception office is in the main building (the Locanda, or inn) through the doorway beneath the oval sign at left.

Just to the right is a passageway that leads to a large courtyard, where a section called the Alloggi has a handful of "superior" rooms in a two-story brick building next to a canal.


Alloggi Marinella courtyard

In the photo above, Cheryl is crossing the courtyard from the passage that leads from the street. (Alloggi Marinella's main building, the Locanda, is the yellow structure behind the brick wall at right.)

Alloggi Marinella Venice

Alloggi Marinella room doorOur "superior double," room 340, was in the Alloggi annex behind the courtyard.

Rooms in the annex have their own private entrances facing the courtyard. They're more like small apartments than rooms: ours had a kitchenette in a locked cabinet that could be opened for an additional fee.


Alloggi Marinella room foyer

Room 340 had an entrance foyer that was convenient for parking our luggage. (If we'd been staying at the Alloggi Marinella in inclement weather, we'd have appreciated the foyer's table and chairs.)


Alloggi Marinella guest room

This fisheye view of our bedroom shows the beamed ceiling, marble floor, and traditional furnishings.

The door to the foyer is on the right. The bathroom is to the left of the bed, and a door on the left side of the photo leads to a private patio.


Alloggi Marinella bathroom

The bathroom was modern, with a shower, hair dryer, and a wall radiator that would have doubled as a heated towel rack in cool weather.


Alloggi Marinella private patio

Cheryl imboden with mapWe were delighted with our private patio.

One evening, when we were too tired and jet-lagged to sit in a restaurant, we bought a pizza at a nearby takeout place and ate supper outdoors.


Cat and wellhead at the Alloggi Marinella

If you like cats, the Alloggi Marinella is your kind of place: We saw two neighborhood gatti hanging out in the courtyard, including this white cat that posed for us next to the wellhead.


Alloggi Marinella breakfast patio

In nice weather, guests can have breakfast at outdoor tables in a walled patio behind the Locanda. (If it's cold or rainy, breakfast is served in a pleasant room indoors.)


Alloggi Marinella breakfast

The Alloggi Marinella's breakfast is sparse by Northern European standards, but you won't go hungry: You'll get a jam-filled croissant with your coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, and a buffet table has fruit, yogurt, and Italian breakfast items such as cookies and store-bought pastries.


Ex-Chiesa Santa Maria d. Maggiore

The quiet, peaceful neighborhood around the Alloggi Marinella is worth exploring.

Just down the street, a walled prison is next door to the deconsecrated church of Santa Maria Maggiore.


Venice Tobacco Factory

One block away, an abandoned tobacco factory is a reminder of the time when this section of Venice was a working-class and industrial area.

Today, many of the old warehouses and other buildings have been taken over Ca' Foscari University and the School of Architecture.


Rio Terra dei Pensieri restaurant

Back on the Rio Terà dei Pensieri, a café-restaurant has outdoor seating in good weather. (It's just a few steps up the street from the hotel.)


Directions to the Alloggi Marinella:

From the Piazzale Roma:

Piazzale Roma sign

1. Exit the Piazzale Roma at the southeast corner, where you'll see the yellow sign above. Go past the public toilets (the brick building on the left in the photo).

Rio Nuovo by Piazzare Roma 

2. Just ahead at the canal, turn right and walk past the snack bar to the Tre Ponti (three Bridges).

Hotel Arlecchino bridge

3. Cross the bridge and continue along the canal past the Hotel Arlecchino (which is another convenient place to stay if the Alloggi Marinella is fully booked).

Rio Tera dei Pensieri

4. Turn right at the next street, the Rio Terà dei Pensieri. (It's a wide street lined with trees.)

Hotel Alloggi Marinella sign

5. The Alloggi Marinella is a short distance down the street on your left. It has a façade of brick and yellow stucco, and its entrance is marked by an oval sign.

From the Venice Railroad Station:

1. As you leave the station, turn right and walk past the large regional-government building next door.

2. Cross the modern Calatrava Bridge (a.k.a. the Ponte di Costituzione) to the Piazzale Roma.

3. Bear left and walk along the east side of the square until you reach the public toilets.

4. Follow our "From the Piazzale Roma" directions above.

From the Marittima Cruise Terminals:

1. Take a shuttle bus or a taxi from the cruise ship to the Piazzale Roma. Or, if you don't mind walking a short distance, exit the port and take the inexpensive People Mover elevated tramway to the Piazzale Roma. (The modern glass-enclosed station is just outside the port entrance.)

2. Follow our "From the Piazzale Roma" directions above.

From the San Basilio Cruise Terminal:

1. Take a taxi from the terminal to the Piazzale Roma. Or--less conveniently--cross the small wooden bridge in front of the terminal entrance, where you can take a No. 2 vaporetto to Piazzale Roma from the yellow-and-white ACTV waterbus platform. (You'll need a ticket, which you can buy at a newsstand or tobacco shop.)

2. Follow our "From the Piazzale Roma" directions above.


For more information:

To check rates or book a room, see Booking.com's Alloggi Marinella pages.


About the author:

Durant Imboden photo.Durant Imboden has written about Venice, Italy since 1996. He covered Venice and European travel at About.com for 4-1/2 years before launching Europe for Visitors (including Venice for Visitors) with Cheryl Imboden in 2001.

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