Grand Hotel Palermo: Stunning hotel restoration project reveals hidden gems of Sicily

Houses by the sea in Sicily: This is people’s desire for real estate. For thousands of years, they conquered from the other side of Mare Nostrum-Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans-and were conquered. They were on the beautiful coastline. Established colonies and built temples. In the centuries that followed, artists and great tourists were equally overwhelmed by the clear bays and bays of Sicily and its unique history, layered on top of a splendid cultural collage. But no one lives by the sea like the Sicilians: witness the suburbs of the capital Palermo-its suburbs are now beginning to sprout, but in the 18th century the utopia of citrus groves and magnificent aristocratic estates collapsed to the Tyrrhenians The villa still adds a lot to the landscape.

A century later, the upward-moving Florio family-owners of shipping companies, fisheries and packaging plants (we attribute the existence of canned tuna to their enterprising spirit) and the producer of the masala wine most likely to know their name ——Acquired a house built on the promontory north of the port of Palermo, in the shadow of Mount Pellegrino. Ignazio Florio Sr named it Villa Florio to help cement the family’s social integrity; decades later, his son Ignazio Jr decided to use its potential as a destination. In 1899, he and his noble wife Franca (a social beauty and salon girl called the “star of Italy” by Kaiser Wilhelm II) recruited the famous Palermitian architect Filippo Ernesto Basile to expand the villa For a full-service luxury hotel.

In the next twenty years, Grand Hotel Villa Igia (Renamed after the daughter of Florios) made history. Palermo has become a must-visit; Florios is its “man”. The hotel was conceived as a huge reliance on their outstanding friends and immediately became a celebrity of international royals, industry and celebrities. Nicholas II of Russia, Edward VII and George V of the United Kingdom, Chulalongkorn of Siam and the Duke of Orleans were all its early patrons. The first baron Rothschild and John Pierpont Morgan wavered on their yacht. Some people visited Monreale’s cathedral or Palazzo dei Normanni, where there are 900-year-old mosaics; some were made for the nearby Bagni della Regina grotto, where they can swim and spread privately. But most people are content to indulge in a hotel in one of the centers of European society.

Destiny turned, just as they did. Before World War II, Villa Igia disappeared from the Florios family; by the end of the 20th century, it had been slowly declining for many years. Although the magnificence of the environment and Basile architecture has never really diminished, its prestige seems to remain firmly in the past. It is fair to say that this city, which was in decline at about the same time, has since more or less lacked a truly outstanding hotel.

Rocco Forte is the chairman of the hotel group of the same name, one of the most fashionable hotels in Europe.Ford and his sister, vice chairman and design director Olga PolizziTen years ago, after they opened the resort Verdura on the southwest coast of Sicily, they set their sights on Villa Igiea. It has great potential, but it is not without complications. In addition to the obstacles to acquisitions and renovations (the entire hotel is heavily listed), there is another problem with the appeal of Palermo itself: some people — your author is firmly in it — they like the city Dirty-the tones of Buenos Aires and Marrakech shine in the baroque bubble and Norman austerity. But many British people completely ignore it. They turned to Taormina, located below Syracuse, or the more fashionable Val di Noto every year. Palermo never ceases to love Villa Igia-will the reborn Villa Igia like it?

A few years later, after about 30 million euros, Forte is about to get his answer. The hotel reopened this month and was completely renovated under the supervision of Paolo Moschino and Philip Vergeylen (co-owners/creative director of London-based Nicholas Haslam) and Polizzi. Famous blush appearance; castle; diamond-shaped pool flanked by ancient temple “ruins” (Florio’s stupidity); the garden is full of palm trees, hibiscus and cacti: all trimmed and trimmed, but Most of it remains the same.

Inside is a place where meticulous protection work and creative transformation are combined. “Basile is almost unknown in the UK,” Polizzi said. “His love for the Middle Ages and freedom [Italian art nouveau]”-Both styles are obvious in Villa Igia-“It is a strange combination, but he is very popular in Palermo. “The double-height Sala Basile has a mural by Ettore de Maria Bergler and a huge ornate glass center lamp. It is a typical representative of the architect. “Fortunately, it is well preserved. Very good, we just need to repair it gently,” Polizzi said. When I arrived, the end of the work was happening. A graduate of the local Belle Arti College, dressed in paint-splattered overalls, tattoos and long braids, Standing on a ladder, meticulously clean up the final part of the spectacular scene: a lazy maid in a translucent white and gold dress; a field of iris and poppies; a peacock with a rich blue-green and sapphire tail feathers.

There is a magnificent walnut staircase, with its ornate railings concealing the intertwined B and E (Basile is known for its clever concealed signatures), and—Polizzi accidentally noticed—the architect’s design for the hotel Pieces of furniture that have been restored and have always been inhabited. The original concierge benches, wooden monoliths, exuding a rich Budapest style, were dismantled, cleaned and reinstalled. (Also very magnificent Budapest: huge tasseled room keys-not cards, not digital keys; real keys-hung in a neat little room behind them.)

The renovation project lasted for two years-one of which was during the pandemic shutdown period-was daunting (“This should have been the best job in beautiful Palermo, but sometimes it is a bit like a nightmare,” Polizzi admits). Every detail must be approved by the local cultural supervision department-sometimes through Zoom. “Even the color scheme,” Vergeylen said, “by basing all of these on Sala Basile murals, so no one can really say that they are illegal”, making the process easier.

The rooms on the entire floor were demolished and renovated, and the number was reduced from more than 120 to more than 100. The old bathroom is sometimes insignificant; the interconnection kit is not a necessary configuration today. “We must completely rethink the layout of modern comfort factors,” Vergeylen told me. “But also remember, when the people who know Villa Igiea come back”-he said, there is a small group of discerning people who like the hotel very much-“The response we want is not’Oh, it feels too different ‘;’Oh, you brought it back to life.'”

“The way to do this is to respect that it is considered a private residence,” Moschino added. “After all, before it became a hotel, it was Villa Florio. We kept the small library and living room”-they could have been combined into a larger (and better revenue generating) space. “Buildings have characteristics, and they will evolve; I don’t believe in scraping it off completely.”

Having said that, Vergeylen pointed out that Forte tends to remind the design team that “Villa Igiea” still begins with the words “Grand Hotel”. Go out and then, with any hint of beach or remote leisure design options. Vergeylen said: “The perfect environment for a grand weekend in a big house” is our goal.Even the smallest room (about 35 square meters, not small) has soaring ceilings, tapestry beds and walls covered in rich blue, gold and sage burlap, or wallpaper made by Design Lab San Patrignano, The rehabilitation community has recently become famous for the Netflix documentary series “SanPa: Sins of the Saviour”. (As the chronicle of its controversial founder, the series does not delve into the extraordinary handicraft workshops that flourished here after his death in 1995-including the sponsorship of Renzo Mongiardino, to whom he left many archive designs , Some of which are Moschino and Vergeylen have been deployed in the hotel).

Every piece of Maorica tile that is not recycled on the site is custom-designed Weather in Scianna Ceramiche, The oldest handmade producer in Bagheria, east of Palermo. “For this kind of work, you wouldn’t think of flying materials from Mexico or Japan,” Vergeylen said. “It wants sustainability in the true sense-supporting local businesses and knowing the craftsmen who work with you.”

This is a Rocco Forte hotel, where health always occupies a prominent place. Forte’s daughter Irene, who is a member of the board of directors of the Global Health Summit (and planned all the hotel’s health plans), weighed the spa and fitness rooms, which occupies her own long outbuilding at the bottom of the garden-all It is balsa wood, pleasant green tiles and light through floor-to-ceiling windows. The skin care series formulated three years ago was grown in Verdura and purchased on the island (Hibiscus, apricot and pistachio oil, orange blossom) and already met the requirements.

The hotel is currently in the trial operation stage; design details are hindered, and the menu is modified and adjusted. But when the hotel is fully completed, it is safe to say that there will be no comparable beauty in the Sicilian capital.As for Palermo itself: success appear, The Nomadic Contemporary Art Biennale held here in 2018, and Putra Palace, Massimo and Francesca Valsecchi’s private museum in the Kalsa district seems to have kicked off a small Renaissance. More and more wine and cocktail bars, as well as young chefs.Have a very worthwhile Modern art gallery, Lively concerts and exhibitions in the Santa Ana Monastery complex, and in the almost absurdly beautiful Santa Maria dello Spasimo, this is Kalsa’s unfinished 16th-century roofless church.

It is foreseeable that competition is coming, including an ambitious transformation of another historical landmark in the city. Palm Hotel, It opened a restaurant and rooftop bar, run by Italian celebrity chef (and native Sicilian) Filippo La Mantia. Palermo may eventually get better, really get better; there is a striking new house by the sea, suitable for those who are curious to find for themselves.

roccofortehotels.com; From 420 euros