This is a real hidden gem. The first commercial airfield in Italy, it is located at the northern end of the Lido island in Venice. The history of this amazing little airfield goes all the way back to 1915, when it served as an airstrip for Corpo Aeronautico Militare, the aviation arm of the Italian military. Although officially designated Venice-Lido Airport, it is also referred to as Giovanni Nicelli Airport, after the Italian First World War flying ace. The commercial airport itself was opened in 1926 and the passenger terminal, an exquisite example of 1930’s architecture, was built in 1935.
The main lobby of the passenger building is a work of art in its own right. Entering through the glass doors, you feel as though you have travelled back in time. Like so much in Venice, it is a wonderful piece of original, historical infrastructure that is still in use today, as a general aviation airfield. There is a restaurant and bar, with an outdoor terrace overlooking the grass runway, where you can sit and watch the light aircraft taking off and landing.
Whenever we are in Venice, and staying on the Lido, we enjoy wandering past the S. Nicolo ferry to the airfield for an afternoon Spritz. The bar and restaurant cater primarily to the visiting pilots and their passengers but are equally welcoming to casual visitors like us. The airfield is surprisingly busy on a summer afternoon, especially at the weekend, with planes coming and going every ten or fifteen minutes. Its quite relaxing to see an aircraft land and taxi slowly to the parking area; see the pilot and one or two passengers disembark and saunter over to the terminal building.
Once you know where the airfield is, you become aware of aircraft on approach skimming the lagoon and buildings at the northern end of the island as they come in to land. I imagine it’s a great way to arrive in Venice and harks back to the 1930’s when the small aircraft would be used by wealthy travellers to cut hours off journeys to Milan, Rome and Turin. It’s interesting to note that, while the railway had been extended to the city of Venice in 1846, it wasn’t until 1933 that the adjacent road bridge was added, some seven years after commercial flights, which started in 1926. So, trains, planes and automobiles, very much in that order.
Anyway, if you find yourself on the Lido, do visit the airfield and experience the elegance of 1930’s aviation first hand. It’s one of my favourite things to do and it’s where I found myself on Father’s Day this year, which I thought was very fitting.
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