- / Ibiza
As the 2025 edition closes, the fair’s founding curator Saša Bogojev reflects on four years of building a boutique art platform that resists aesthetic clichés and champions global relevance
ISSUE NO. 31
Built between 2016 and 2018, the eco-resort CampZero was designed with the intention of bringing together, in one place, design, innovation, tradition, and sustainability, while maintaining a connection with the surrounding landscape.
In October 2022, Limestone Capital, the Swiss private equity firm focused on technology-driven hospitality investments, announced the acquisition of Camp Zero, creating the actual hotel complex Aethos Monterosa, which opened on December 1st, 2022, adding it to Aethos Club, the new hybrid hospitality format with headquarter in Milan.
«Aethos is a holistic concept of hospitality», explains Aethos founder and CEO Benjamin Habbel. «With locations around Europe, we make it possible for our members to enjoy experiences based on wellness and community sharing – concepts on which the community’s philosophy is based. The Club is open to a wide audience, including younger age groups. Members must embrace our values, have the desire to build relationships and be advocates for change. Aethos also provides conventions with other Clubs around the world, from London to New York, to ensure that our members have a point of reference wherever they are».
The latest addition to Aethos Group is a hotel located in the heart of the Ayas Valley, not far from Champoluc, a location known for the Monterosa Ski facilities, with about 170 km of slopes. It is located at the foot of Monte Rosa, one of Europe’s highest peaks, framed by rivers and forests.
The acquisition of Camp Zero is the third of the group in Italy, following Aethos Saragano and Aethos Milano, and joins four other existing projects in Southern Europe. «Downward real estate valuations are now colliding with a recovery in luxury hospitality», says Benjamin Habbel. «We continue to see great potential in the Italian real estate market, which remains fragmented».
The acquisition is part of Limestone’s strategy, which is committed to mid-sized transactions that fall between those of global investment firms and local entrepreneurial entities. The enhancement of undervalued hotel properties enables Limestone to reposition assets into high-yielding hotels.
Limestone Capital is managing the resort under its Aethos technology lifestyle hotel management brand. Aethos Monterosa opened with a focus on experiences and wellness, with the aim of attracting travelers seeking a deeper connection with nature, while still allowing them to enjoy the comforts of a modern retreat.
The two founders, Benjamin Hobbel and Jeff Coe, created Limestone Capital in 2018 with the idea of «transforming the real estate industry by finding capital to invest in renovation, to bring a new hospitality concept to light». Therefore, the company identifies buildings «not properly positioned in the market or without a real purpose, to transform them into hospitality facilities where guests feel at home. We talk about ‘integration’ because both of our operations in real estate and hospitality have the same goal».
Today, the company owns the hotel management group Aethos Hotels & Clubs and the Emerald Stay brand. «The two brands are very similar», the CEO continues, «we want to create the same experience, but in a different way. Aethos is a boutique hotel brand that usually manages accommodations of about fifty to sixty rooms, while Emerald specializes in renting out luxury homes. The difference, however, is in the way we operate. But the concept is the same».
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Aethos Monterosa’s architectural design was overseen, concerning the exterior structure, by BladIdea studio and in the interiors by NM architects, with the aim of creating a structure capable of blending with the surrounding environment, favoring the use of natural and indigenous materials. The investment was of fifteen million euros. The design was developed according to modern yet naturalistic criteria.
The architecture fits in the alpine environment. The built-up area comprises medium-sized buildings, while the ground floor is located below a Y-shaped ‘slab’ with green coverage, the central section of which lifts up and links to the natural terrain at the three extremities, exploiting the morphology of the land.
The interior of Aethos Monterosa respects the resort’s eco-friendly vocation. Common rooms, as well as the suites, feature a décor made of essential lines. In continuity with this premise is the set-up of the Summit Restaurant, characterized by wooden details hanging on the walls as if to remind the guests that they are at high altitude, 1,570 meters above sea level, as well as the surrounding mountains do.
Aethos Monterosa features thirty suites where each element, material, and color recall the Aosta Valley tradition. The boundary between indoor and outdoor space is nullified by floor-to-ceiling windows and terraces over the panoramic views, and by the garden.
The room types differ in capacity, from two to four guests, and are fifty-five square meters distributed on two floors, with living area and two bathrooms. The essentiality of materials such as wood, glass, steel, and concrete, combined with contemporary design create environments characterized by shapes and lights.
The complex also includes a bar, two restaurants, a SPA, an indoor climbing wall, an underground parking garage with charging stations, and a helicopter landing pad. The lobby, with its modern furnishings and two designer fireplaces, echoes the warm style of the rooms.
Aethos Monterosa is to present itself as a destination for deluxe sports tourism. The hotel offers a range of activities: heliskiing, ice-climbing, canyoning, paragliding, light trekking, defocusing, and wellness, handled by a dedicated team of professionals. An indoor climbing wall with more than forty-five training routes spanning fourteen meters in height has also been built inside the hotel.
Sports enthusiasts can also enjoy the twenty-five-meter semi-Olympic pool, canyoning, e-bikes with pedal assist (rental on site), golf, and a fully equipped gym available for guests.
Two are the restaurants inside Aethos Monterosa, both a mix of tradition and innovation. At Summit, open from breakfast to dinner, guests can discover a gastronomic proposal inspired by local tradition.
At 1568 (name that recall the altitude at which the hotel is located), on the other hand, guests can taste the dishes of Alpine cuisine revisited in a modern key, surrounded by the mountains.
Aethos Milan, the headquarter of Aethos Group’s new members Club, is on the heels of a hybrid hospitality format, which is gradually expanding in Italy. The new Milanese space has opened in the Navigli area and allows access to reserved areas for Club members, such as a gym, and the possibility of participating in fitness, yoga, pilates, and meditation sessions.
Guests can also access the Doping bar during the day and the private lounge at the new Zaia restaurant. A series of rooms, curated by interior designers from Spain’s Astet Studio, are also accessible and separated by common spaces with velvet curtains which provides intimacy.
In addition, among the additional benefits available are events such as Club Talks and discounts on food & beverage as well as hospitality in the brand’s other destinations, including the latest acquisition Aethos Monterosa.
Hotel group specializing in technology-driven hospitality, Aethos Hotels & Clubs provides a differentiated offer addressed to a new generation of conscious travelers.
ISSUE NO. 31
Lampoon is a cultural magazine.
Culture today means sustainability – in its honest meaning.
Culture has always been about human respect, tolerance. It’s not only about accepting human diversity but it’s about searching for the beauty of every human peculiarity.
Inclusion is the first value that defines art. Culture today means one thing only: to be part of a community, to think as a community.
Reading Lampoon, you see that these themes are smoothly aligned. A good part of the articles’ content discusses practices to restore our environment and stories about understanding the others.
Reading Lampoon, you find a dialogue between science and creativity. From sharp and edgy photo sessions to fashion, architecture, technology – the commitment is dedicated to a future that is all about us – together.
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