Bellagio Hotel & Casino

Overview

Bellagio is a resort, luxury hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Inspired by the Lake Como town of Bellagio in Italy, Bellagio is famed for its elegance. One of its most notable features is an 8-acre (3.2 ha) lake between the building and the Strip, which houses the Fountains of Bellagio, a large dancing water fountain synchronized to music.

Inside Bellagio, Dale Chihuly's Fiori di Como, composed of over 2,000 hand-blown glass flowers, covers 2,000 sq ft (190 m2) of the lobby ceiling. Bellagio is home to Cirque du Soleil's aquatic production O. The main (original) tower of Bellagio, with 3,015 rooms, has 36 floors and a height of 508 ft (151 m). The Spa Tower, which opened on December 23, 2004, and stands to the south of the main tower, has 33 floors, a height of 392 ft (119 m) and contains 935 rooms.

Top Restaurants

• Prime Steakhouse — classic American steakhouse by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, offering prime cuts, fresh seafood, and waterfront fountain views
• LAGO by Julian Serrano — modern Italian small plates enjoyed with panoramic views of the Bellagio fountains
• Picasso — award-winning fine-dining showcasing Spanish-French cuisine in an art-filled lakeside setting
• The Mayfair Supper Club — glamorous supper club experience featuring theatrical service, live entertainment, and upscale American cuisine
• Jasmine — upscale Cantonese, Szechwan, and Hunan cuisine served in an elegant garden-and-lake-view setting

Fountains of Bellagio

The Fountains of Bellagio is a vast, choreographed water feature with performances set to light and music. The performances take place in front of the Bellagio hotel and are visible from numerous vantage points on the Strip, both from the street and neighboring structures. The show takes place every 30 minutes in the afternoons and early evenings, and every 15 minutes from 8 pm to midnight. Two minutes before a water show starts, the nozzles begin to break the water surface and the lights illuminating the hotel tower turn to a purple hue (usually), or red, white, and blue for certain music. The fountain display is choreographed to various pieces of music, including "The Star-Spangled Banner" by Whitney Houston as the first show of the day, "Time to Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli, "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood, "Your Song" by Elton John, "Viva Las Vegas" by Elvis Presley, "Luck Be a Lady" by Frank Sinatra, "My Heart Will Go On" by Céline Dion, a three-song medley by Tiesto, and "The Sound of Silence" by Disturbed. The fountains are set in an 8-acre (3.2 ha) manmade lake.

Conservatory

The hotel also contains a conservatory and botanical gardens. There are five seasonal themes that the Conservatory undergoes: Chinese New Year, spring, summer, fall, and winter. From January to mid-March, the Conservatory celebrates the Chinese New Year with a display dominated by flowers bromeliads and Orchids, as well as the animal of that particular year that the Chinese zodiac celebrates. The theme then changes over to the spring display, which lasts until May, and usually features a butterfly house as well as many varieties of tropical flowers. During Memorial Day weekend, Bellagio then switches over to its all-American summer display, featuring a large recreation of the Liberty Bell, as well as several American flags throughout the Conservatory.

From late September until Thanksgiving weekend the Conservatory puts on its Autumn display featuring several varieties of chrysanthemum and several large pumpkins. After Thanksgiving, the Conservatory switches to its winter holiday display, which is dominated by a large centerpiece Christmas Tree and several varieties of poinsettia. Throughout the year the colorful displays are decorated with many fragrant flowers and usually contain fountains.The Conservatory is located next to the hotel's lobby and is open to the public.

Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art

In addition to the numerous works of art found throughout the public areas of the resort, Bellagio also houses a special exhibition space displaying artwork on loan from various museums and private collections from around the world. Originally the space that displayed the personal art collection of Steve Wynn, the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art has since become a rotating exhibition space after he sold his hotels in 2000. In the past, the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art was located near the grand staircase in the Conservatory that Julia Roberts descended in the movie Ocean's Eleven, but was then moved to its larger current location along the pool promenade eight months after Bellagio opened to better accommodate larger crowds.

In popular culture

Bellagio serves as the central setting for the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bellagio (resort)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0