Old and elegant gate in the woods
Picturesque view of the final part of the sacred road with the 14th chapel, Varese, on the horizon the city of Milan, at dawn. Sacro Monte of Varese is located in the Regional Park Campo dei Fiori. In 2003 entered from UNESCO in list of World Heritage
Architectural detail on a door in France
It is no coincidence that Varese, a favorite destination for tourism and holidays of the Milanese and Lombard bourgeois families of the Nineteenth Century, saw the flowering of this style in Italy through the construction of numerous villas, palaces and hotels that populated the areas surrounding the city center.
Fashionable places, elegant and refined environments, prestigious natural landscapes and regenerating views: this was what bourgeois families were looking for when they were escaping from the chaos of the city, and willing to immerse themselves in the greenery that treasures like Palace Grand Hotel could give.
The success of the Liberty in fact marked the affirmation of Varese among the great Italian and European destinations, and above all it was a symbol of the level of well-being that the city was experiencing in those years. But the advent of modernism on the territory was largely due to the genius of Giuseppe Sommaruga, one of the greatest architects of the time and the greatest exponents of Italian Liberty, who saw in its lines and floral aesthetics elements of continuity with the nature of these lands.
Varese owes its reputation as an open-air museum of Liberty to him. It was the architect who gave its touch to guarantee the success of this style in the city, by designing projects of numerous buildings located between the city center, the surrounding areas, up to the Campo dei Fiori and the Sacro Monte.
It was Giuseppe Sommaruga himself who designed the Palace Grand Hotel in 1911 in the footsteps of this style: an architectural and artistic masterpiece immersed in a unique natural context, within the centuries-old park of Colle Campigli, with views of Monte Rosa and the waters of Lake Varese.
If the characteristic features of Liberty already amaze you at first sight of the exterior of the structure, even the interior, after more than 100 years, remains faithful to the original project: with pastel nuances, decorations and precious marbles to act as a common thread between the corridors, the rooms and the immense and elegant halls of the building.
It is no coincidence that the Palace Grand Hotel represents a mandatory stop within the numerous guides to discover the Liberty in the area of Varese and its surroundings.
For lovers of the shapes and colors typical of this style, Varese offers many other stops.
The Campo dei Fiori, just over 5 km from the Palace Grand Hotel, houses some of the most visited historic houses in the area, such as Villa Mercurio, Villa Edera, Villa De Grandi and some facilities such as the Campo dei Fiori Funicular Station.
If you prefer to discover the city center and the surrounding areas, always within a few minutes drive, you can admire the beauties of Casa Bianchi, Villa Campiotti Vergani, Villa Caravati and Villa Barani.
However, Liberty in the area of Varese it’s not exclusive to residential constructions, as it also characterizes some factories and industrial complexes, such as the Poretti Brewery in the municipality of Induno Olona, and still numerous funeral shrine in neighboring municipalities. These are just the umpteenth testimony of the prosperity and prestige enjoyed by the entire territory.
For art, culture and elegance lovers, Varese is the perfect destination to discover unexpected treasures: a city that keeps maintaining the testimonies of the well-being and richness of the time and of which the Palace Grand Hotel manages, in its atmosphere, to enclose its essence.
Book now your stay
