One of the first four hotels in Sanremo

It was built in 1863 to cope with the nascent tourist industry, almost all in British style, at the beginning of Corso Garibaldi in a building that still exists today (the Alvazzi house) and that we see in today's photograph, soon transformed into a house. Its first owner was Angelo De Ferrari, Mr. Angelin, the old manager of the Hotel de la Palme, the first, eighteenth-century hotel in Sanremo.

Among the first illustrious clients was Giovanni Domenico Ruffini, the author of Doctor Antonio who, in the small volume "Sanremo revisited" in 1865, celebrated the Hotel D'Angleterre « filled with all those comforts that characterise a good Swiss hotel », as Ruffini himself literally wrote.

Thus he described it « It was like a dream for me, who could compare the past with the present, to find myself in a hotel in Sanremo filled with all the comforts that characterise a good Swiss hotel, that perfection of its kind. Carpets everywhere, including the stairs, well-decorated lounges, clean bedrooms with white curtains, good iron beds, mirrors and dressing tables, washbasin with all the necessities for ablutions, all the other comfortable pleasantries, fireplaces in every room "..... "Nothing could be said more joyous than the "salle a manger" where we sat down to lunch, with its delightful perspective, and the charmingly painted ceiling. Nothing could be more attractive than the dining table, with its rich tablecloth of snow-white damask, silverware and glasses, all sparkling in the reflection of a shining Italian sun in November ».

Nothing in the description was overlooked; even with other articles published in the English press, Ruffini continued to advertise the good hospitality of Sanremo for his demanding clientele.

(source: "Sanremo tra due secoli" Conti Migliorini, Scajola; "Una Stagione lunga cent'anni lunga cent'anni", Bruno Monticone).