Grand Hotel et de Milan: convenient location (close to La Scala), the refinement of the apartments, the latest achievements in the field of hotel service

Passing the gallery

Text: Dmitry Kopylov

Magazine: (70)

Every Italian in the soul is a singer. And even if he is not an outstanding tenor, like Caruso, Pavarotti or Domingo, then certainly artistic nature. Giuseppe Spatz, the owner of the Grand Hotel et de Milan, was in awe of the talent of the great Giuseppe Verdi, who lived in the hotel for many years in the 105th room. For example, by order of Mr. Spatz, the street was covered with straw, so that the passing carriages did not prevent the maestro from creating. Then Spatz could not yet assume that his name will go down in the history of world art not only as a hospitable and patient host of the hotel, in which Verdi wrote dozens of operas, but also as the father-in-law of another outstanding Italian composer, Umberto Giordano, and his hotel will become a real Mecca for artistic bohemia of the whole world. At first, a small four-storey mansion in the center of Milan was a profitable house with a small coffee shop on the first floor, where artists from La Scala, who were only two minutes away, often visited. In 1863, the building was purchased by the Company of Milan Hotels (The Company of Hotel Milano) and converted into a modern and comfortable hotel for those times. The proximity to the business center, and most importantly, to the building of the opera, where the most eminent singers of Europe performed, promised considerable profits. Calculations met expectations. But the Grand Hotel et de Milan reached its true heyday when Giuseppe Verdi chose number 105 in 1872 as his permanent residence. Verdi's personality attracted many different people to the hotel - artists, writers, politicians, and even the death of the maestro in 1901 did not stop the flow of all those who wanted and wanted to feel the unforgettable atmosphere of the place where brilliant opera works were created. The hotel guests were a variety of people - Enrico Caruso, Benito Mussolini, Italian King Vittorio Emanuele, the kings of Spain, Belgium, US President Grant, Emile Zola, Anatole France, Wagner, Rothschild, Hemingway, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and many other distinguished as well completely unknown to anyone. The hotel attracted not only its convenient location, the refinement of the apartments, but also the fact that it used all the latest technical advances in the field of hotel service. Earlier than in the royal palace, a telephone line was connected to each room at the hotel. The "Grand Hotel" was one of the first in Europe to use hydraulic, and then electric elevator lifts, central heating. The kitchen of the hotel is considered the height of technical excellence, and legends are spread about the glorified skill of its chefs. In 1993, the hotel underwent a renovation. It was decided to preserve the architectural appearance in the modern style. The hotel, as before, 95 rooms, of which 18 suites are luxury apartments. Three banquet halls - Verdi, Puccini and Giordano - often become the venue for press conferences on the occasion of film and theater premieres. The Grand Hotel et de Milan is still, as in the days of Verdi, continues as a magnet to attract celebrities.