Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori

The Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori in Varese is a hotel located on Mount Tre Croci, in the northern area of ​​the Varese municipality. Designed in 1908 by Giuseppe Sommaruga, it was very active in the first half of the twentieth century and represents, for its structure and furnishings, a notable example of Italian liberty. Closed in 1968, it is still in a state of neglect today. It was opened in 2017 on the occasion of the centenary of the death and 150th anniversary of the birth of the architect Giuseppe Sommaruga.
In the first decade of the twentieth century, the Varese area had become a popular summer holiday destination. One of the favorite places for tourists was Mount Campo dei Fiori, which offered the peace and charm of wild mountain nature not far from the city center of Varese. Various private individuals therefore decided to build, on the southern slope of the mountain, various villas, mostly in the architectural style then most in vogue, the liberty.
Thanks to the simultaneous development of the transport network (funicular and tramways), in 1907 some entrepreneurs, interested in investing in tourism in Varese and Campo dei Fiori, decided to set up the Società Anonima dei Grandi Alberghi Varesini and commissioned the architect Giuseppe Sommaruga, one of the greatest exponents of Italian liberty, to design buildings for hospitality purposes, some of which to be built in the area of ​​Monte Tre Croci. Specifically, a 30-room hotel (which would later become the Belvedere restaurant), the funicular stations and another 200-room hotel (the Grand Hotel), very luxurious, were commissioned.
The construction site began in 1910 and ended in 1912, while the restaurant and the funicular (which was given to the management of the Varese Society for Electric Companies) came into operation some time before.

The national cultural association ITALIA LIBERTY in 2017 set up an exhibition in collaboration with the property and the Fai (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) curated by Andrea Speziali and Vittorio Sgarbi in honor of the designer Sommaruga, one of the greatest architects of Italian modernism. See monograph "Giuseppe Sommaruga (1867-1917). A progragonist of Liberty", edited by A. Speziali, CartaCanta publisher 2017.