Grand Hotel Campo Dei Fiori

The Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori is a hotel located on Monte Tre Croci, in Campo dei Fiori, Varese, Italy. It was designed by Giuseppe Sommaruga between 1908 and 1912. It is in the Art Nouveau style. It was closed in 1968. As of 2024, it is in a semi-abandoned state. It is opened three times a year by the FAI.

History
Plans for a hotel on Campo dei Fiori began back in the late 1880s, and in 1894, the ‘Albergo Paradiso' opened.

There was also a small restaurant, opened by Carlo Ciotti in 1886. The hotel was situated where the current hotel is. Due to the hotels success, it was demolished to build the much larger and luxurious hotel, Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori.

Giuseppe Sommaruga started designs for the hotel in 1908, with construction beginning in 1910. The hotel officially opened in 1912. A restaurant (called Ristorante Belvedere) and funicular station were also constructed.



To construct the hotel they used items including mines and charges of dynamite to excavate the rock, and the overall operation profoundly changed the landscape of the area, as a vast garden was built around the buildings. After its opening, for about half a century the complex was a destination for a large influx of elite tourism, interrupted only by the two world wars. In 1944 it was used as a Military Hospital. In 1947 a fire devastated the top floor, which was hastily repaired with a prefabricated structure.

Over the next two decades, the hotel, aided by the total disinterest of the owners and the negligence of the janitors, was gradually stripped of many period pieces of furniture (some of enormous value), of which only a part was saved. Presumably around the 1980s (but there is a lack of reliable sources on this) the prefabricated mansard implanted in 1947 was replaced by a sturdier masonry roof covered with bituminous sheathing and copper foil (or similar material), at as of 2024 still present today.

During the 1980s, the Castiglioni family (owners of the Cagiva and of the Pallacanestro Varese) bought the hotel and supported the idea of re-opening. Instead they inserted antennas on the roof, which is was greatly hated by locals.

In 2017 it served as the filming location of the film Suspiria.

As of 2020, the Government of Varese has been thinking of re-opening the hotel, due to more interest and events in the city. Every August, the hotel's gardens are used for the annual Alpine festival

Structure and Location
The hotel building is divided into three sectors: a central body extending towards the Varese valley and two asymmetrical, staggered side wings forming an open V towards the north. This was chosen by Sommaruga, as it looks like an Eagle taking flight.

As previously mentioned, the current appearance of the building is significantly marked by the repairs to the fire that destroyed the top floor: the difference between the mansard roof with its sheet metal roof and the walls below is clearly visible. On the façade, three wrought-iron lampposts, the still legible sign and the four monumental central chimneys, just above the three entrance doors, stand out. A burgundy-coloured frieze embraces the entire building at first floor level.

The rear façade is the best preserved part of the building. It is higher than the north façade, as the surrounding ground is on a lower level}.

On this front one can recognise the basement, marked by walls made of bare stone limestonea and large circular windows with grilles, which houses the rooms reserved for staff (kitchens, laundries, dormitories, etc.). In the centre of the rear façade is a majestic stone portico, leaning towards the Varese valley, which supports the ballroom and under which is the secondary entrance to the building. According to the original plan, this structure was to have been the arrival station of the funicular, but the idea was later abandoned due to the excessive noise of the engines. Noteworthy are the decorations carved in stone and cement, the elaborate wrought-iron railings and the doccioni in the shape of a dragon, the work of Alessandro Mazzucotelli and, lastly, the imposing brick vaulting, details that give the portico a mysterious 'Gothic' appearance.

Beyond the portico, on the east wing of the building, one glimpses, on the first floor, the restaurant hall, partially built in a veranda cantilevered away from the building.

Gallery