Villa Feltrinelli in Gargnano to Open as Luxury Hotel in June After Delays
The villa will experience a slight delay compared to the initial forecast, but in June, Villa Feltrinelli of Gargnano, the “Villa of the Duce,” will open its doors after being transformed into a luxury hotel, following the renovations carried out in recent years. The opening date, originally scheduled for April 2001, is now postponed by a few weeks.
History and Transformation of the Villa
The idea of converting the residence of the Fascism leader (Benito Mussolini stayed there for 19 months, from October 1943 to April 1945) into a documentation center on the Italian Social Republic (Salò Republic) and the Resistance has long been abandoned. In this context, an intervention supported by the Cultural Heritage Ministry could have occurred in 1997, at the time when the villa was sold by Immobiliare Regalini (which had acquired it in 1981 from the Feltrinelli family) to businessman Bob Burns.
The Cultural Heritage Ministry could have intervened in the negotiations and exercised a right of pre-emption for 6 billion lire. Nothing came of it because, during the Assisi earthquake days, funds were massively diverted to Umbria. Subsequently, over the recent years, silence has fallen around the villa, occasionally interrupted by some controversy over the building’s intended use.
Development Plans and Management
Only the trucks of the construction company have continued their activity. Meanwhile, an office has been opened in Gargnano for study, planning, and promotion of the new “Villa-hotel.” The general manager is Christophe Bergen.
“The slight delay in timeline,” explains the director, “was caused by work still ongoing in the building’s basement, but the final phase should be imminent without further long delay.” Once completed, guests wishing to stay at the “Villa del Duce” will receive high-level treatment, and overcrowding is unlikely given the modest number of rooms available.
The costs will also be aligned with the services offered, which characterize the new “Villa-hotel” as a fairly elite structure: for a room, prices will range from 600,000 to 1,600,000 lire per day. “But,” adds Bergen, “without comparing to other Garda hotels, the five stars of the Feltrinelli are well deserved.”
Structure and Staff
Overall, the available rooms will number 20: 12 in the villa itself, and the remaining in buildings within the two hectares of parkland surrounding it. The staff of the new facility will total 25, from the director to waiters.
Regarding the potential promotional or other influence of Benito Mussolini’s image, a figure historically associated with the building, Bergen speaks straightforwardly: “More than Mussolini, we intend to tie the hospitality we will offer to the memory of Gargnano’s bourgeois past and especially to the Feltrinelli family, whose presence is everywhere in the villa.”
The inauguration will not be marked by fireworks, but by subsequent events ranging from invitations to local authorities to cultural gatherings scheduled throughout the summer. The director clarifies that this is not a low-key start but a beginning that aims to be “almost familial” in scale.
Inauguration Date and Significance
The official opening date is laden with symbolism: it will likely coincide (barring surprises) with July 4th, a day that marks two significant anniversaries, albeit of very different natures.
On one side, the anniversary of the United States’ declaration of independence. On the other, the birthday of Bob Burns, the entrepreneur who undertook the purchase and transformation of the historic villa into a hotel.