In bed and at table with history
Casanova used to sit at the Caffè Florian, and D’Annunzio wrote at the Gambrinus in Naples. Count Cavour had a table of his own at the Cambio in Turin, and Marconi always asked for Suite 105 at the Miramare in Santa Margherita. These hotel rooms, and restaurant and café tables are still there, silent witnesses of a glorious past: with a bit of luck, if they are free, you can occupy them yourself and, for a while, enjoy the experiences of these illustrious personalities.
Salon Fellini
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In the enchanting Sala Grande of Caffè Poliziano in Montepulciano, the film director Federico Fellini used to enjoy sitting in the little lounge number two (the first on the left in the photo). In August 1992, Fellini came, with his wife Giulietta Masina, to the Caffè as a special guest: he was to open the “I disegnatori de Il Grifo” exhibition of splendid original comic-strip drawings by Milo Manara, Danijel Zezelj, and Andrea Pazienza, as well as his own. Il Grifo is a historic magazine ...
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The table of the Queen Mother
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When the Queen Mother paid a visit to Bassano del Grappa on May 27, 1987, and passing by Nardini Distillery on an official visit she impelled her escort to take her inside, she took her place at the table just inside the doorway overlooking the bridge and had a sip of “bianca”.
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Dedicated suites
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The suites at the Hotel Vittoria in Pesaro bear the names of famous people, from both present and past, who have stayed here over the past hundred years. These personalities include Luigi Pirandello, Baron and Baroness Rothschild, the Aga Khan and the Agnelli family, but also Julio Iglesias, Maestro Zandonai, the opera singers Carreras, Domingo, and Pavarotti, and the president of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano, through to present-day jetsetters like Marina Ripa di Meana and Bruno Pizzu...
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Baker and number 15
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During his long stay in Europe in the 1960s, the American trumpeter Chet Baker, who is famous for his lyrical style and his enormous contribution to cool jazz, stopped off at the Albergo Universo in Lucca, where for a few days he took room number 15 on the second floor. It is said that he would sit on the windowsill and play his trumpet late into the night, to the delight of music lovers and passers-by. And the photograph, which was taken at the hotel, shows him doing just that. The hotel has de...
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Marconi and suite 105
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In 1933, on the scenic terrace of the Grand Hotel Miramare of Santa Margherita, Guglielmo Marconi made the world’s first broadcast of telegraph and radio-telephone signals. The 60-cm microwaves were received at a distance of 150 kilometres. As well as doing research work, during his stay Marconi also received friends and personalities, who were attracted as much by the great scientist as by the fame of the Miramare’s superb cuisine. And when his studies obliged him to return to the Elettra, ...
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Laurence Olivier and suite 118
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In February 1947 Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh spent a holiday at the Grand Hotel Miramare in Santa Margherita. They stayed in Suite 118. For the occasion, a private screening of Gone with the Wind was shown at the Teatro Centrale in Santa Margherita, in honour of the actress.
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The Caruso Suite
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The large veranda overlooking the Gulf of Sorrento and the mementos it contains make the suite both splendid and magical. It is dedicated to the famous tenor, who often enjoyed booking into the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria, and he chose to do so again in 1921 just a few days before he died. Still today it contains his original piano and objects that belonged to him, including his writing desk and some of his photos and letters.This is the most outstanding of the 12 suites in the hotel: in the ...
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