The Grand Hotel for Excellence

The Grand Hotel & Des Anglais was built in 1888 by Giuseppe Conio, a Sanremo builder and former owner of the Hotel Eden, who had made his fortune in England, so the name is no coincidence.

From a stylistic point of view it was designed by the architect Giulio Franco Gilli (the same architect who would have designed the Palazzo Franco, near the Hotel Royal, the first luxury condominium of the Sanremo Belle Epoque) who modelled it on the taste of the English clientele who were beginning to discover the Riviera dei Fiori in those years.

Although the hotel had the name Grand Hotel & Des Anglais, for a long time it was simply called Grand Hotel, par excellence, and had 150 rooms (51 of which with bathroom, a real record for the time) and a very luxurious interior decoration.
In addition it had a unique feature because in its park was installed for the first time in Italy a forerunner of mini-golf. It was called "Tom Thumb Golf", wanted and managed by an American entrepreneur with staff from his country. It had 18 holes.

In 1914 the hotel was sold to Mr. Adolf Schreiiber.
Recently, Luigi Ravizza, prince of hoteliers, was the director and managed it for thirty years.

Throughout its history, the hotel has had illustrious guests such as the protagonists of the 1920 Sanremo Peace Conference, where the hotel hosted the entire Italian delegation, with the Prime Minister Francesco Saverio Nitti, together with the French statesman Alexandre Millerand and the Englishman Lloyd George. The hotel was chosen because it guaranteed guests security, tranquillity, privacy and a splendid view of the Sanremo marina.

The hotel hosted other exceptional guests: Winston Churchill, Gabriele D'annunzio, the poet Trilussa, Guglielmo Marconi, the Crown Prince of Japan, the Duke of Bergamo and Filiberto Duke of Pistoia, to name but a few.

« when you put your foot on the magnificent staircase that gives access to the Hotel, surmounted by quick columns supporting a terrace surrounded by marble balustrades and from where the view delights in a landscape overflowing with marvels, you can guess that the interior must have been rich and elegant with a wealth of paintings and gold decorations ».

The hotel, which is still in operation today, retains only part of its original furnishings.

(sources: elaboration by various authors; image source: private archive)