Grand Principe di Piemonte Hotel Viareggio travel guide

History

Viareggio came into its own in the 1920s as one of the most famous and popular seaside resort in Italy; its popularity goes together with the restructuring of old hotels and the building of new ones which substantially transformed the look of the Viareggio coastline.

In 1921 Florence nobleman and engineer Giuseppe De Micheli, owner of a thermo-hydraulic industry, bought the land to build a new Hotel, and also took the task to improve the area located in front of the future Hotel in view of the subsequent construction of the bathing establishment realised in 1938.

The new Hotel, called Select and built in the record time of just 240 days, immediately became the favourite place of the smart set in Italy and abroad, including aristocrats, notables and members of the moneyed bourgeoisie, in addition to intellectuals and artists.

In 1927 the major newspaper reported the event of the year, a diplomatic visit to Viareggio by His Royal Highness, Prince Seis Islam Mahamet, second son of the King of Yemen, and his delegation: The Hotel chosen for the Prince’s stay was the Select.

In this carefree holiday atmosphere the summer nights were filled with a whirl of balls, charitable events, and the election of beauty queens until 1938 when Knight De Micheli was invited by the Ministry of Popular Culture to give the Hotel and bathing establishment an Italian name, ordering the immediate withdrawal from circulation of brochures bearing the name Select Palace.

Within fifteen days the Select switched its name to the Principe di Piemonte.

In the last years the Hotel went through a rapid decline, until 2001 when a group of important entrepreneurs decided to buy the Hotel and were able, with strong investments and nineteen months of renovation, to bring it back to its deserved original beauty.

Grand Principe di Piemonte Hotel Viareggio travel guide last edited by HotelsCombined