2018 is an important year for anniversaries of historic hotels
that have become authentic icons of bien-vivre and glamour
2018 will be remembered as the year of excellent anniversaries: we are speaking about hotels, of course; those iconic ones in Italy that are shining examples of style, luxury and bien-vivre.
The Hassler in Rome is celebrating 125 years: the hotel is now part of the collective consciousness, because Princess Diana once claimed she had sipped one of the best Bellini cocktails of her life there. Then there is the Grand Hotel in Rimini, 110 years of history, that everyone remembers as an almost mystical vision for the great director Federico Fellini; and another 110th anniversary, of the Regina Palace in Stresa, the historical location of the finals of Miss Italia and the headquarters, in 1935, of the International Conference of Stresa, where anti-German strategies were discussed at length.
Some hotels are celebrating their anniversaries almost silently, while others have launched into lavish festivities and glamorous events. Opening the dances was the Sheraton Diana Majestic in Milan with the Aperitivo900 event, three appointments (the first was 14 June, the others are 19 July and 16 September), based on recipes discovered on the menus of period banquets: d’Annunzio salad, prawn croquettes à la De Amicis, tinned cucumbers à la Eleonora Duse, frozen melon à la Regina Elena.
Those who prefer to bask in fine art might relish a visit to Gritti Palace in Venice, celebrating its 70th anniversary by enriching its collection of works with Legends of the Gritti, a suite of 11 watercolour portraits of the most illustrious guests signed by the celebrated British illustrator David Downton. There are likenesses of Peggy Guggenheim, Ernest Hemingway, William Somerset Maugham, Greta Garbo, and Humphrey Bogart.
And there is also another legendary hotel in Venice celebrating its birthday, the Belmond Hotel Cipriani: on the occasion of its 60th anniversary, it is offering a series of culinary and other experiences.
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