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.

ALBERT SABIN

sabin

Albert Sabin (1906-1993), physician and virologist. Polish but naturalized American, famous for having developed the most used vaccine against polio. He worked for thirty years at the University of Cincinnati (Kentucky), where in 1946 he was appointed chief of pediatric research. In 1939 he announced to the scientific community his first important discovery about the nature of polio virus that attacks the nerve fibers and between 1954-55 he developed the vaccine that it was not patented; he gave up the commercial exploitation to ensure its dissemination. He declared: "Many insisted I patented the vaccine, but I did not. It 's my gift to all children of the world." He was a guest of the Grand in the seventies during his visit in Italy and in particular to pharmaceutical plants Sigurtà.

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VALENTINA TERESKOVA

tereskova

Valentina Tereskova (Bol'šoe Maslennikov 1937), Russian astronaut. She was the first woman in the world when she was 26, in 1963, aboard the Vostok 6 spacecraft, and made 48 laps around the Earth in three days. She was celebrated at the Grand Hotel Gardone in October 1967 during her visit to Italy. When reporters asked her, after her breakfast in the garden, how was the Earth from the space, she replied: "It looked like a bride with her white veil."

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GUESTS FROM CENTRAL EUROPE

In Gardone, the period called "Mitteleuropean" goes from 1885 to 1915. This name comes from the foundation of Kurverein, or Committee of care - more precisely committee on health resort of Gardone Riviera" and it was created in 1886 by two German doctors, Dr. Rohden and Dr. Ludwig. Karl Koeniger. The Grand housed in winter season a large number of people of culture, industry and the nobility, including, in the spring of 1903, the retinue of King George of Saxony. Special evenings, dances and masked balls held in the great ballroom of the Grand Hotel during the Belle Epoque were memorable.

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Ospiti famosi en

ALBERT SABIN

VALENTINA TERESKOVA

GUESTS FROM CENTRAL EUROPE

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