A villa that has changed its skin over time

Villa Blanchi (Blanchi, French style) was one of the first villas to be built on the Berigo hill west of the city. We know about it from the Da Prato guide who already recommended it to foreigners.

It was the former villa of the Barons Blanchi of Bezancourt, built in neo-Gothic style.
It was located in Via Roccasterone, in a beautiful garden behind the old Hôtel Bellevue (now demolished), designed by architect Pulan of Nice.

« Two branches of marble staircases, with balustrade, lead to the main floor of a "rotunda". In this hall are two beautiful panneaux made by the painter G. Ferrarini of Parma. On this floor there are four other rooms, splendidly mounted, one of which is the "salle a manger".
Above the same floor there are, on two other floors, fourteen or fifteen rooms, halls and rooms, with equal luxury decorated. Large kitchens and several other comfortable rooms can be found underground.
The "rotunda" rises beautifully above the factory and from it you can easily see the whole area that circumscribes the territory of Sanremo as well as a great stretch of the Mediterranean that the eye can infer ».

The villa became for a short period Hôtel Paradis. The guide of Sanremo del Marest in 1882 pointed out it for its very luxurious furnishings, for the very limited number of guests, and for its great comfort.

As Kerr suggested in his work "House of the English Gentleman" of 1864, where he proposed a single floor plan with ten different facades, much of the artistic effect of the building had to be given by the shadows obtained with foreparts and recesses, by masses of more or less elevated buildings such as towers, loggias, terraces. In addition, an essential complement to the residence and its external features had to be the interior furniture intended both as a function and as a symbol.

In fact, the entrances and living rooms abounded in furniture, carpets, curtains, plants, paintings, mirrors; walls and ceilings almost always had either stucco and wood decorations or frescoes.

From the '30s it was a Hotel with the name Pensione Imperiale. Today the villa has been demolished and a condominium was built in its place.

(free elaboration from the book "Sanremo tra due Secoli" by various authors; images from private archives)