From historical grandeur to contemporary art: Grand Hotel Miramare’s journey
Preserving tradition, embracing innovation: Grand Hotel Miramare’s journey as it continues to evolve in the Modern Era after 120 years of activity
Grand Hotel Miramare, a history dating back to 1903
When wandering around Grand Hotel Miramare and the town of Santa Margherita Ligure it is not rare to hop into Andrea Fustinoni. – when he is not in the Milan city center teaching art lessons. Checking on the guest’s situation or simply having a night walk with his husband Fabio and his dog, Mr. Fustinoni is the symbol of a family-owned business.
Purchased after World War II by Andrea’s father, the Milanese entrepreneur Giovanni Fustinoni, the history of Grand Hotel Miramare actually dates back to 1903. At the beginning of the Twentieth Century the structure was one of the first Grand Hotels of the Ligurian riviera, mostly attracting the Russian and English elite during the winter months.
Acquired in 1923 by Cavaliere Torriani and transformed into ‘Torriani’s Miramare’, the hotel was the protagonist of a series of events of historical relevance.
It was 1933 when the first radio telegraphy and radiotelephony signals were launched by the Italian scientist Gugliermo Marconi from the Miramare terrace. In 1951, during the Italo-French convention C.E.C.A., the European Economic Community was born, in the halls of the Miramare.
It is under the creative guide of the Fustinoni family that Giovanni and his wife Franca managed to transform Grand Hotel Miramare into a meeting point for the national and international jet set. «Before I was born, we had an open-air cinema on the terrace, in collaboration with Capranichetta cinema in Rome», Andrea Fustinoni recalls. In 1970 «the pool was completed, with that curved shape that prevented it from becoming a space for the training of the national (football) team, as the law required back then».
Keeping up a family business, Andrea Fustinoni’s effort at Grand Hotel Miramare
Today, in the year of its one hundred and twentieth anniversary, Hotel Miramare is kept alive thanks to the energy that the Fustinoni consorts managed to transmit to their children. And Andrea’s passion was also transmitted to Fabio D’Amato «My partner in life, he (Fabio) today manages with me, my mother, and my sister Elena the family business. He has brought, with his taste and his attention to details, a revolution».
«My father Giovanni – Andrea tells – always embarked on new adventures, not only economically speaking, but also culturally» says Mr. Fustinoni recalling the memory of his father as a man constantly trying to think ahead of time. «All of this happened with the support of my mother that, however, with her pragmatism, would go along with my father’s creativity under the condition of a positive balance sheet». And it is with this spirit that in the early Fifties Giovanni Fustinoni decided to create, in collaboration with the architect Giorgio Host, the Barracuda beach and nightclub.
The Grand Hotel Miramare in 2023, the year of its 120th anniversary, stands nowadays between history and a desire for innovation. The structure, which hosts seventy-eight bedrooms, recalls the post-war boom and the summer vibes of the old days from the liberty décor of the façade. While relying on a base of regular clients, as it is located in a very much active area from the perspective of international tourism, the Fustinoni family is making an effort to keep the hotel up with current times, in an ongoing renovation process.
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A renovation process towards contemporaneity: art and design at the center of Grand Hotel Miramare
The new Barracuda bar was designed by architect Andrea Zegna in 1988, inspired by the jazz atmospheres of New York nightclubs, with cream-colored sitting rooms and mood lighting. Followed by the Barracuda restaurant on the beach, designed by Fabio D’Amato himself in a Mediterranean style. To get to eight years ago, when a collaboration with architect Enrica Narbonne started.
In 2003, the eSPAce Wellness Center was inaugurated.
Ms. Narbonne was firstly involved in the renovation, in 2017, of the hotel hall. She took the decision of taking away the characteristic elements of the 1970s, such as the coffered ceiling and the stainless-steel elements. «In agreement with the property I just lightened the space. The family had only given me one input: to let the back garden that surrounds the space and that develops along the Portofino Hill enter the hall». These are Enrica’s words reported by Rischa Paterlini in the catalog of the Hotel’s art collection ‘miramART – Beyond the Sea’ released in 2022.
The renovation process continued since the 2017 intervention. It involved the pool restaurant, the Marconi terrace –also characterized by glass windows opening the space and putting it in conversation with the surrounding external gardens and pool – and finally the rooms, cottages, and suites.
The Miramare Suite
The restoration of Grand Hotel Miramare suites started from the upper levels and has its focus in the 2022 Miramare Suite at the fifth floor. Ms. Narbonne in ‘miramART – Beyond the Sea’ recalls the day when the meeting happened to decide what to do with the previous space, how to integrate the new elements without losing the vibe of the original structure. Andrea and Fabio took the decision to reunite the whole staff in the space, in order to hear everyone’s opinion not only in terms of aesthetic but also comfort and functionality. Enrica Narbonne started from Mr. Fustinoni’s sketch itself to create the new suite.
With a view of the sea from its windows and balcony, the Miramare suite represents with its spaces – the living room, bedroom with walk in closet and bathroom with bathtub and separate toilet – a homage to the Italian production of the Fifties: Ponti, Arflex, Citterio, Stilnovo, Rimadesio.
The blue of the sea is reflected in the tiles and wallpaper, inspired by Gio Ponti prints, with an Amalfi coast vibe, recalling the work that the architect himself carried out at Hotel Parco dei Principi in Sorrento. Some original design pieces can be found in the room, such as Gio Ponti coffee table design in the Fifties for Singer & Sons and his Super Leggera armchair. Other than those, Il Guscio sofa and Hera chairs by Antonio Citterio for Flexform fill up the space, while the sliding doors, the bar cabinet, the desk, and walk-in closet were designed by Giuseppe Bavuso for Rimadesio. All is connected by the artwork by Eileen Quinlan, Blue Stark, part of the miramART collection.
The miramART collection: contemporary art at Grand Hotel Miramare
«Our passion for contemporary art is as intense as the one we feel for Grand Hotel Miramare – the two run on parallel lines», shares Andrea Fustinoni. Mr. Fustinoni, entrepreneur and collector, refuses to only limit his interest to the devotion towards the family business. While loving and operating on the elite side of the Liguria region territory, he confesses that sometimes he feels the lack of openness towards new ideas. His need for contacts with the contemporary art world often pushed him back to the city of Milan, where the Fustinoni family originates from.
«The miramART collection was born from the grief that my family endured. In 2012 my brother Alberto passed away, and I had to focus on the hotel business, not having much more time left for my other passions, like contemporary art. With Fabio we thought that, if we couldn’t leave the hotel, we would have brought contemporary art into the hotel itself. So, in 2014, we decided, with the artist and friend of ours Andrea Botto, to create the miramART association».
Art pieces can be admired throughout the public and private spaces of Grand Hotel Miramare, starting from the sculpture that was the starting point of the collection: Vicini di Casa, a black marble sculpture by artist Ettore Spalletti. A collection that was developed for over a decade with a focus on photography and even some site-specific works, like the one by Luca Vitone.
As the renovation process will progressively involve the remaining spaces and rooms of Grand Hotel Miramare, the art collection aims at growing besides it, and Andrea and Fabio are looking forward to new blank spaces to communicate a new message.
Grand Hotel Miramare
Opened in 1903 and acquired by the Fustinoni family after the Second World War, Grand Hotel Miramare represent the history of hospitality for Santa Margherita Ligure. In the past years, the structure has undergone a renovation process that invested the collective areas and part of the rooms, with the inauguration of Miramare Suite in 2022. Today Grand Hotel Miramare, under the guide of Andrea Fustinoni and Fabio D’Amato, keeps evolving merging tradition and contemporaneity.
Anna Polgrossi
