Ospiti famosi en

‘Outside was the moon, up above in the sky, and the long garden beside the lake resembled silver, with its noble plants, palms, magnolias, agaves and the scent of roses’. These words of the German Poet Paul Heyse – 1910 Nobel Prize for Literature – describe the rapture of one of his stays at the Grand Hotel, where he was often a guest in the decade 1899-1909, and where he set his novella ‘A Venetian Night’, from the volume ‘Novellas from Lake Garda’ (1902). But the list of excellent guests that have stayed at the Grand Hotel is nearly endless: from Sir Winston Churchill to Gabriele “The Poet” D’Annunzio; from King George of Saxony to the novelists William Somerset Maugham and Vladimir Nabokov; down to the great stars of music, theatre and dance, who in the last years have performed at the summer festival hosted by the Vittoriale at Gardone Riviera, and who have chosen the Grand Hotel as a place to stay on the Garda. Would you like to know more? Then do keep an eye on our blog, where we will regularly post some of the most interesting facts about the Grand Hotel – 130 years of history.

GUESTS OF D'ANNUNZIO

It's impossible to list all the guests of the poet who stayed at the Grand Hotel Gardone from 1921 to 1938. It may be pointed out: Tom Antongini (1877-1967), writer and biographer of D'Annunzio. Tom was his secretary during the French period. Gian Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973), composer, poet and friend of the Poet. During summer 1923 he participated to the birth of the "Corporazione delle Nove Muse". Francesco Paolo Michetti (1851-1929), painter and photographer, great friend of D'Annunzio since youth when he gave rise to the "Cenacolo Francavillese" (which was so important in the culture of 'Abruzzo) where the poet wrote some of his first successful works. Arnoldo Mondadori (1989-1971), editor of D'Annunzio, Ugo Ojetti (1871-1946), journalist and writer, director of the Corriere della Sera, Ida Rubinstein (1888-1960), Russian dancer and actress, artist in Paris in 1911 of the Martyre de Saint-Sébastien d'Annunzio-Debussy.

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GUESTS OF THE GRAND IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM

Also during the Third Millennium, celebrities from all over the world continue to choose the historical hotel for their holidays in Gardone. The international press informs readers that the Grand is one of the most fascinating hotel in Italy, and beyond. It is situated in a wonderful environment, characterized by a particular climate that makes a stay very pleasant in all seasons, but above all in late autumn and spring, when the Monte Baldo and its snow make the landscape more beautiful in a contrast of colors. A sort of amphitheater hillside rich in Mediterranean vegetation is situated behind the hotel, while the lake opens in front of it so as the Garda Island, the rock in Manerba and the peninsula of Sirmione, "flower of islands and peninsulas", where two thousand years ago seemed to Catullus to hear the joyous laughter of the waves of Lake Garda.

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WINSTON CHURCHILL

churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965), was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer (as Winston S. Churchill), and an artist. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. On 25thJuly 1949 he was welcomed at the Grand Hotel Gardone where he stayed for a long time.

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BENITO MUSSOLINI

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (1883-1945), was the founder of fascism, head of the Government of the Italian Kingdom from January 1925. He was also head of the Italian Social Republic from September 1943 to 25th April 1945. He stopped at the Grand to meet Gabriele D'Annunzio. During ISR, when the big hotel became a hospital, he attended the Grand several times to visit the wounded and his son Romano who was hospitalized after surgery.

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GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO

dannunzio

Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863-1938), poet, writer, dramatist, exponent of the Italian decadence, the hero of the Great War and commander of the heroic feat of Fiume, protagonist of the Italian and French social life. There was a great outcry over his numberless amorous adventures, in particular the breaking of ties with the great actress Eleonora Duse. Finally, on 2nd February 1921 he arrived on the shores of the lake, in Gardone Riviera. While he was waiting Villa Cargnacco was refurnished, he stayed at the Grand Hotel Gardone with the pianist Luisa Baccara and the staff. It was reserved an entire floor just for him, while the loyal legions camped in the halls. He created in Gardone Riviera the Vittoriale - designed by Gian Carlo Maroni. He went and stayed there from 1921 until his death and he was buried in the ark placed in the center of the Mausoleum.

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Ospiti famosi en

GUESTS OF D'ANNUNZIO

GUESTS OF THE GRAND IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM

WINSTON CHURCHILL

BENITO MUSSOLINI

GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO

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