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 with the setting up of the photographic exhibition organized by the ITALIA LIBERTY association and documentary inside the building. It is entitled, like the monograph, "Giuseppe Sommaruga (1867-1917). A protagonist of Liberty", edited by Andrea Speziali and Vittorio Sgarbi, CartaCanta editore 2017.

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.
For the construction of the complex, ingenious construction and plant engineering solutions were used, including mines and charges of dynamite to dig the rock, and the overall intervention profoundly changed the landscape of the area, since a vast garden was built around the buildings. After its opening, for about half a century the complex was the destination of a great flow of elite tourism, interrupted only by the two world wars. In 1944 it was used as a military hospital. In 1947 a fire devastated the top floor, which was hastily repaired with a prefabricated structure. In 1953, with the closure of the funicular, the decline of the tourist flow began and, towards 1968, the hotel and restaurant closed their doors. In the following twenty years the hotel, thanks to the total lack of interest of the owners and the negligence of the caretakers, was gradually stripped of many pieces of period furniture (some of enormous value), of which only a part was saved. Presumably around the 1980s (but there are no certain sources in this regard) the prefabricated attic planted in 1947 was replaced by a more robust masonry roof covered with bituminous sheaths and copper sheets (or similar material), still present in 2020.
In the eighties of the twentieth century, the Castiglioni family (entrepreneurs from Varese who already owned Cagiva and Varese basketball) bought the building, giving rise to hypotheses on its reopening. But the reality was quite different: with the birth of private radio and television broadcasters, there was a strong demand for places in altitude to install repeaters and relative antennas; therefore the hotel was used as a "base" for the radio and television pylons.
For a few years the building was itself the seat of a local radio station (Radio Campo dei Fiori - FM 96.2 MHz). The current situation is almost unchanged, with the building practically serving exclusively as a support for antennas (many of which are abandoned and rusty). On the other hand, the antennas require the presence of a caretaker in the building and a minimum of maintenance on the roof, preserving the building from abandonment and complete ruin, as well as from vandalism and further thefts.
Despite the deterioration, the area of ​​the hotel has retained a remarkable charm and is still a destination for onlookers, enthusiasts, art students and hikers who use the surrounding paths to climb to the hotel and the mountain behind. Furthermore, every year, in the week of August, the feast of the Alpini, which takes place in front of the building, is an event of attraction for tens of thousands of people. In 2016 the structure changed ownership passing to the company "finalba Secondo spa" together with the twin "palace hotel"
The hotel is easily accessible by bus (urban line) and by car, which however must stop at the entrance gate, since the area is still private property and is pedestrianized. Once inside, past the former stables - garages, of little architectural value, after a short straight you reach the foot of the building directly.
The hotel building is planimetrically divided into three sectors: a central body extending towards the Varese valley and two asymmetrical and staggered lateral wings, which form a V open to the north.
As mentioned previously, the current appearance of the building is markedly marked by the repair work on the fire that destroyed the top floor: the difference between the attic with a sheet metal roof and the walls below is noticeably visible. On the façade stand out three wrought iron lampposts, the still legible sign and the four monumental central chimneys, just above the three entrance doors. A burgundy-colored frieze embraces the whole building at the height of the first floor.
The rear facade is the best preserved part of the building. It is higher than the north facade, since the surrounding land is on a lower level.
On this front we recognize the basement, marked by walls made of bare limestone and by large circular windows with railings, which houses the rooms reserved for staff (kitchens, laundries, dormitories ...). At the center of the rear façade there is a majestic stone portico, leaning towards the Varese valley, which supports the party hall and under which is the secondary entrance to the building. According to the original project, this structure should have been the arrival station of the funicular, but the idea was later abandoned due to the excessive noise of the engines. Remarkable are the decorations carved in stone and concrete, the elaborate wrought iron railings and the dragon-shaped gargoyles, the work of Alessandro Mazzucotelli and, lastly, the imposing brick vault, details that give the portico a "gothic" and mysterious.
Beyond the portico, on the east wing of the building, on the first floor, you can see the restaurant hall, partially built into a cantilevered veranda that is detached from the building.