Design Unusual

Zelda Champagne & Cocktail Club (BL)

by Lavinia Colonna Preti
Zelda Champagne & Cocktail Club (BL) — Veneto Secrets

Inside the Ambra Cortina Luxury & Fashion Boutique Hotel, a reference point of Ampezzo's hospitality created by the hotelier Elisabetta Dotto, Zelda is a cocktail bar that reveals the pop-soul of the Dolomites.

The Hotel Ambra, a few steps away from Corso Italia, is a true “institution” in Cortina. Not only because it was built after the First World War and it is among the first inns of the original “village” that has been welcoming guests for 80 years, but above all because since 2007, the date on which she took over, it has been the reign of Elisabetta Dotto.

Family hotelier for three generations and consultant for the high-level turism sector, Elisabetta has, in fact, given life to a new way of understanding the art of hospitality, rethinking the hotel as a place where culture, art and fashion get together by contaminating themselves with the social and mundane life of the city in which it is hosted.

Zelda Champagne & Cocktail Club (BL) — Veneto Secrets
Zelda Champagne & Cocktail Club (BL) — Veneto Secrets

Ambra Hotel is like an Ampezzo-style cosy boutique hotel with the soul of a lively art gallery where culture and fashion are the protagonists.

(Elisabetta Dotto, owner)

For all known as La Locandiera (the innkeeper), a nickname that implies the close bond she loves to establish with her guests, since she took over the property of the Hotel Ambra she has constantly made improvements coming to completely renovate all the interiors and in particular the 24 rooms, each furnished in different ways (the ones in the Ampezzo style are wonderful), 18 of which are equipped with hydromassage tubs, double steam showers and canopy beds.

In December 2022 another novelty: with the restyling of the breakfast room and part of the common areas, Zelda Champagne & Cocktail Club was born. A name inspired by Zelda Sayre, writer and artist, wife of Francis Scott Fitzgerald, who went down in history, as well as for her talent, for the wild parties she took part in with her beloved husband, the author of The Great Gatsby.

Zelda Champagne & Cocktail Club (BL) — Veneto Secrets

Located on the ground floor of the Hotel, the project, conceived under the supervision of Elisabetta and her daughter Maria Vittoria with the help of the architect Gian Luca Perissinotto and the consultancy of Burro Studio, is inspired by pop art and features the surreal wallpaper signed Toiletpaper magazine as well as the neon art with the amusing writing “Save water drink champagne” created site-specific by F/Art.

Also very original is the drink list which includes three sections dedicated, respectively, to the Dolo-MYTHIC Aperitif, the Bubble Experience and the Warm & Cold Sensation and which includes the great classics, original cocktails such as the Martini della Locandiera, the Pink Lady or the Espresso Martini, as well as various champagne labels.

Zelda Champagne & Cocktail Club (BL) — Veneto Secrets
Zelda Champagne & Cocktail Club (BL) — Veneto Secrets

Fashion, as stated on the sign, is an integral part of the philosophy of every entrepreneurial project of Elisabetta Dotto, as well as the protagonist of many of the parties she loves to organize in her Hotel, such as the famous “Colbacco and 12 heels” or the aperitifs “Aperi-lipstick”. To stay updated on the various events, just follow Elisabetta’s or Zelda’s social networks.

Zelda Champagne & Cocktail Club is perfect for an aperitif or after dinner and, if the night is still young for you, Elisabetta will be able to give you all the advice to experience Cortina by night, in fact it is no coincidence that her daughter Maria Vittoria has recently taken over the local historian Belvedere club on Pocol Hill.

The Secret

In 2019 Elisabetta also opened Excess Venice Boutique Hotel & Private Spa, a five-star jewel located in Venice in Fondamenta S. Sebastiano with a splendid secret garden. Where will it be the next one?

Useful Info

Ambra Cortina Luxury & Fashion Boutique Hotel
Via XXIX Maggio 28
32043 Cortina d’Ampezzo, Belluno
Tel. +39 0436 867344

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