If you ask high-flyers in the art world why they attend the Venice Biennale answers might include: “Because it is one of the most important platforms for multi-cultural dialogue.”

Or, “Because it is one of the only events where the best curators in the world exhibit their aesthetic brilliance.”

One suspects these may be slightly disingenuous.

The romantic wooden terrace of Cip’s Club overlook…

Pour a few of Harry’s famous Bellini’s into any of these folks and the truth would surely tumble out. It is really because those who know how to live look forward year after year to staying at the glorious Hotel Cipriani — one of the world’s last oases of old-school glamour.

There are probably only half a dozen hotels in the world where one is as likely to run into Leo di Caprio as the Emir of Qatar or Princess Caroline poolside  — and the Cipriani is one of them.

As a start, any hotel that can only be reached by hydrofoil launch immediately shoots its exclusivity factor sky high (the prices are equally stratospheric)!

Add to that the illustrious history of Giussepe Cipriani and his famous Harry’s Bar*  – where the guest book is scrawled with the signatures of Toscanini, Hemingway, Bardot, Peggy Guggenheim and other luminaries to numerous to mention.

The Hotel Cipriani, opened on a three-acre plot at the tip of Giudecca Island in 1957– only four minutes by boat from St Mark’s Square.

The idea was to have the art, the churches, the restaurants, and the bustle of Venice at your doorstep (or dockside in this case). But to give those who could afford an escape from the crowds, the heat, the pigeons and the tourists.

Today the elegant hotel features large, airy rooms decorated in soothing tones of ivory accented by objets in azure blue to match the sparkling Mediterranean surrounding the hotel grounds.

Newly refurbished Junior Suite with balcony and views…

If one can bear to leave one’s room, a stroll under the Cypress trees leads to the hotel spa called The Casanova Wellness Center. The spa’s name comes from its spot in a wooded glade where the legendary lover apparently wooed his conquests

A sybaritic list of treatments include: the “Casanova Garden Ritual”, the “Lavander and Camomile Massage” and the “The Romance Ritual” – a 430 Euro – 2-hour indulgence fthat pampers a couple with a geranium and rose bath, massages and green tea. Heaven.

However, the real action at the Cipriani — especially during the Biennale –takes place at the Hotel’s bar and restaurant where high-flyers come to spout “contemporary art speak”

Men in the uniform of the Euro-art world: red jeans and blue blazers, escort women in vintage Pucci to the best tables at the terrace restaurant: La Fortuny.

Under twinkling lights laced through the bougainvillea trees repeat guests often order the legendary Carpaccio con Salsa Cipriani, -a divine plate of wafer-thin slices of raw prime beef seasoned with Cipriani’s original secret sauce and the Risotto Primavera – a classic staple of Italian cooking, but in this restaurant, long-simmered, creamy, and showered with slivers of aged parmesan.

The Porticciolo Restaurant facing the open lagoon

As the moon wanes the cheese, chocolates and de rigeur double espresso arrive. Why is it that only Italians and the art-world can down copious caffe doppios at 2am – and still sleep like babies?

Perhaps it is the slumber that only comes after a day sated with the world’s best art, food, wine and conversation?

Or perhaps it is just the feeling that a unique spot like the Hotel Cipriani imparts – the sense that the cares of mere mortals are – at least for a short, sweet time – very far away indeed.