"Lido Palace just squeaks into the 19th-century club, founded in 1899 — but it’s got more than enough historic cred to justify its status, having hosted such Belle Époque names as Archduke Franz Ferdinand, King Vittorio Emanuele, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. The hotel’s palatial aspect never went away — it’s just been radically transformed by Alberto Cecchetto’s avant-architectural genius. The lobby, for instance, juts out from the edifice proper, a museum-like extension with a partitioned glass ceiling and swank neon seating. Or take the dining enclosure, a glass-and-metal marvel stretching nearly to the lake." - Tablet Hotels