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From
a barrel submerged in the lagoon waters during a hunt, even Ernest
Hemingway, the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, admired the town
of Caorle, with its lofty bell tower that grazed the sky. He was in
the sunken oak barrel that is used in the Veneto region for cover
during the hunt. Any strategy is used to help conceal a hunter from
what he is trying to shoot, which in this case were ducks
I
recall a place where my family, my sister and I, usually spent the
summer months.
It was Sara Hotel, a place where the Mediterranean sun penetrates
deep within you, right down to the bone, and where the miracle of
dawn repeats each morning, when the sun turns the sea a fiery red.
I was enthralled by that magical, extraordinary event.
Perhaps, I thought, I could even walk upon that multicolored path
to the furthest point of the horizon on the sea.
Then, slowly and almost magically, the water became as transparent
as the sky.
I still see the blazing sun reflecting upon the calm water. I see
the white seagulls soaring above me. I see the rocks, the narrow beach
with a few homes, the small dock with its boats and fishnets.
The
beach, the sea and the town that attract thousands of tourists from
around the world each summer witnessed, like Venice, defeat and pillages.
But the magic of this ancient world remains intact in the aura of
these places with their sea, lagoon and unusual monuments.
Exploring
the narrow streets and alleys of the old city center awash with Venetian
red, ochre and bright blue and suddenly encountering the oriental-style
Santo Stefano cathedral is a unique experience that gives you the
feeling of being back in ancient days when knights galloped through
these lanes accompanied by their colorful pages.
This, the most unusual monument in town, became the Bishop’s See in
579.
During the 7th century, the barbarian invasions and the interminable
disastrous wars between the Byzantines and Longobards caused many
people living inland, especially in Concordia, to move to the lagoons
and found new villages. Caorle was one of these.
In the middle of the year 1000, the townspeople began construction
on the church dedicated to the martyr Saint Stephen, which remained
a cathedral up until 1818.
The church was built just a few meters from the sea, teeming with
fish and with its distinct aromas and now hidden by the protective
barriers of the seawalls.
The marvelously isolated bell tower is one of the most impressive
medieval cylindrical constructions built next to a church, a perfect
architectural synthesis of previous experiences and themes dear to
the late Romanesque period.
And this, in the land of the ancient Venetian republic, is a characteristic
sign of the Ravenna style, also due to its particular position with
respect to the cathedral. So isolated and imposing, it became a symbol
of the town, and the most evocative and easily remembered element.
And
while it may be difficult to imagine today, this striking group of
constructions rose next to the fishing valleys, the silent witnesses
of a pre-existent body of water that was far greater in dimension.
In fact, at one time the entire upper Adriatic Sea, from Ravenna to
Monfalcone, was a huge uninterrupted lagoon, and the village of Caorle
was a sort of island in the midst of this unusual environment.
Today’s port, which enters right in the heart of town, echoes day
and night with the noise of fishing boats unloading their catch at
the market, which is one of the most important in the area.
Next to the Madonna dell’Angelo sanctuary, a small church built long
ago after an effigy of the Madonna appeared several centuries ago
on the sea before a group of fishermen, I find Antonio Gusso. Antonio,
who founded Sara Hotel fifty years ago, is gazing at the sea.
It is easy to ask the first perhaps banal question in such an old
and striking setting.
WHERE
DID YOU GET THE IDEA TO BUILD A HOTEL?
It was quite simple, actually. I had a very small home where I lived
with my family. I was a fisherman many years ago. I thought I could
become hotel keeper, so I started adding on to my small home year
after year.
HOW
MANY ROOMS DID THE HOTEL HAVE INITIALLY?
It only had six rooms back then. Every two or three years, as soon
as I paid off my debt, I’d apply for another loan, and this permitted
me to enlarge the hotel. In this way, we slowly but surely arrived
at today’s hotel.
WHAT
WAS THE TOWN LIKE BACK THEN?
It was quite small, and fishing was its only source of income. In
the years that followed, however, larger fishing boats entered the
port and permitted more efficient fishing. Then the tourism industry
was launched and became a major business.
WHAT
WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
As I said, I was a fisherman. I used to sail out at sea at night and
return home at dawn. We would take our catch to the market, and then
repair the fishing nets. After resting, we would set out again at
night. Later on, my father became the lighthouse keeper, so I started
working at the lighthouse and looking after our hotel because tourists
had begun to arrive. That is how I got my start, but I have to thank
my wife Sara, the mother of our two children Giuseppe and Annamaria,
for the way the hotel was run.
WHEN
DID YOU OPEN YOUR HOTEL?
I started out in the hotel business in 1950, on June 13, 1950, to
be exact, and I already had a fair number of guests. There was no
electricity and we made do with an oil lamp and candles on the bedside
tables in the rooms. There was one bathroom for everyone, and food
was served at the table informally.
HOW
WAS THE FISHING BUSINESS IN THE LAGOON?
Several fishermen lived in picturesque cane and straw huts, where
they ate and slept. They fished eels, gray mullets, sea bass and giltheads.
When the town was small, many brought their families here during the
fall, but they returned home during the Christmas season because it
was much too cold.
WHAT
IS THE FUTURE OF THE HOTEL?
The future is in the hands of my son Beppino because my wife Sara
and I are elderly and want to relax.
HOW
DID BEPPINO START IN THE BUSINESS?
Gradually. He started out as a waiter, and then began taking care
of the accounting, records and purchasing. He is now in charge of
everything and is the heart of the company. This is right because
he is young, while we are getting older as each day goes by. I try
to help him as best I can. I’m always ready to buy the fish, clean
and prepare them, but he has to take care of everything else.
NOW
WHAT IS BEING BUILT?
A hotel business is a never-ending endeavor. You have to give to receive.
We built a terrace facing the beach and stretching out towards the
sea. It has a view of the Madonna dell’Angelo church, to which fishers
have always been devoted. A short time ago the statue was carried
in a procession through the city streets. It also traveled along the
country roads and was transported on the lagoon aboard a boat that
was lavishly decorated for the occasion.
AND
NOW A FEW QUESTIONS TO BEPPINO GUSSO
WHAT
DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THE HOTEL?
My first recollections date back to when I was a child. Back then
the hotel was a small pension, an inn where the fish my father caught
was used for the meals served to its guests. I remember we cooked
the traditional Veneto dishes.
WHAT
TYPE OF DISHES WERE THEY?
Risotto with chicken livers, risotto and peas, rice and potatoes,
spaghetti with clams, pasta with meat sauce, or pasta with tomato
sauce. We also made baked lasagna, but that was not a local dish.
We served a variety of country-style soups or broth. We then adjusted
our menu to suit national and international tastes. The pension gradually
became a hotel, with all its various services. But our food is one
of the most important aspects of our hotel.
WHAT
IS THE FUTURE FOR THE HOTEL?
We want to make it more and more comfortable and offer services that
let us extend the season also during spring and fall. We’re thinking
of installing a covered pool, sauna, fitness center and all those
facilities and services needed to attract tourists to Caorle and give
them plenty of enjoyable things to see and do to keep boredom at bay.
HOW
LONG IS THE SEASON NOW?
It’s already six months long. We were able to extend it from April
to the end of October, and this is already a very good result. However,
it could be extended by one month or more, creating the appropriate
infrastructures.
WHAT
WERE YOUR LATEST PROJECTS?
We enlarged the bar and balconies. In fact, guests don’t always go
to the beach. They sometimes want to sunbathe on their balconies.
We are basically trying to make our guests’ stay more and more comfortable.
WHAT
IS YOUR HOTEL’S CATEGORY IN THE SECTOR?
We are a mid-range hotel, and we must be a bit careful because, considering
the fact that we are a three-star establishment, it is not enough
to adjust the price to justify better quality. People who don’t know
us, don’t know what we offer. Therefore, we must adequately publicize
the hotel to present our services.
WHERE
DO YOUR TOURISTS COME FROM?
Sixty percent of our guests are Italian, and 40% are foreigners. Most
of the Italians come from the Veneto and Lombardy regions, while most
foreigners are German, Austrian and English. There are also a few
guests who come from Switzerland, France and other countries as well.
HAVE YOU HAD ANY IMPORTANT GUESTS?
Quite a few. First of all, there are many generations of families
who have been coming here for years. First the grandparents, then
the parents. This is quite gratifying, because it means there is not
just a professional relationship, but something more.
Among our many guests, Mogol stayed here for three days last year
because he had a charity soccer game in Treviso between famous singers
and journalists. Katia Riciarelli, the Flippers (a German rock group
as famous as Pooh in Italy that has sold almost 20 million records),
and Caleffi, who was the General Secretary of the Brescia Province
and the assistant of Martinazzoli, have also been our guests. Many
coaches of the Milan soccer team’s farm club, such as Zagatti and
Trebbi, have stayed here. We have welcomed the national gymnastics
teams of Italy and Hungary, Italy’s national women’s basketball team,
and the farm clubs of the national basketball teams of Italy and France.
Our guests have included the La Scala string quartet, Joseph Padar,
the first violinist of the Vienna Philharmonic, Edoardo Vianello and
his group, who stayed here on May 9 and 10 this year, and François
Jadas, the owner of the hotel that welcomed the Italian national soccer
team during the World Cup championships held in France.
ANY
SPECIAL OCCASIONS?
I held a special party on September 27, 2000 to celebrate the fiftieth
anniversary not of the actual hotel, but of the time that Toni and
Sara had spent here. On June 13, 1950, they entered a small house
with an oil lamp and well water. I wanted to do this to commemorate
their work, efforts and preoccupations.
WHAT
ARE YOUR FUTURE PROJECTS?
The E.U. has financed a great project in which the waterfront facing
east will be extended out to sea. Therefore, Sara Hotel will have
room on the seafront to build sports and entertainmen t facilities
for its guests. In the future, the hotel will not only be known for
its exquisite hospitality, but also for its excellent facilities and
services of the highest standard.
Together with the city of Caorle, Sara Hotel will participate in the
renovation project of Piazza Veneto on which the hotel sits, with
the construction of an underground garage with a good number of private
parking spots for guests.
It will be the definite solution to the parking problem, and the current
outdoor parking space will be used for a small heated indoor swimming
pool.
In the future, we will remodel and enlarge the dining room, the kitchen
will be moved and enlarged, a covered pool will be built, and a new
lobby will be integrated with the bar and sea front.
Another remodeling project that will give the hotel an even more impressive
appearance will be the addition of another story facing Piazza Veneto.
This project has already been introduced by the city planning department,
adopted by the city of Caorle and approved by the Veneto Region.
Our path will take us far from the small house with an oil lamp and
well water that Toni and Sara entered on June 13, 1950.
That house is now Sara Hotel, and that date had to be commemorated
with a certain emphasis, to celebrate our efforts: the hard work and
worries that have accompanied Toni and Sara until today, in fifty
years of unfailing commitment. This fiftieth anniversary took place
during the Jubilee Year 2000 and with the arrival of the new millennium.
These fifty years deserved a great celebration and this humble book
that wants to tell the story of these people through words and images.
Actually, we didn’t celebrate fifty years of the hotel, but the fifty
years that Toni and Sara had spent in this place, preparing what we
now appreciate and are committed to develop with care.
The grand celebration, which took place in September 2000, was dedicated
to Toni and Sara and commemorated this significant event in the presence
of our friends, family and people close to us.
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