Grand Hotel and Theatre, Fiuggi
Giovenale designed Fiuggi’s Grand Hotel as a single building for a single purpose — to entertain the spa: hotel, theatre and gaming rooms under one Liberty roof, opened in 1911.
At a glance
Fiuggi’s upper town grew around its springs into a Belle Époque resort, and its social life had a single address. The architect Giovanni Battista Giovenale designed the Grand Hotel on Piazza dell’Olmo (today Piazza Trento e Trieste) from 1908; completed in 1910, it opened in 1911 as a combined hotel, theatre and casino. The theatre survives as the town’s Teatro Comunale.
Key facts
- Built: first stone 1908, completed 1910, opened 1911
- Architect: Giovanni Battista Giovenale
- Style: Liberty (Italian Art Nouveau)
- Programme: grand hotel, theatre and casino combined
- Location: Piazza Trento e Trieste (former Piazza dell’Olmo)
- Today: houses the municipal theatre (Teatro Comunale)
History
Fiuggi’s mineral water had been famous since the Middle Ages — Boniface VIII and Michelangelo are both said to have drunk it — but the town became a modern spa only at the turn of the twentieth century. The lower settlement of Fiuggi Fonte was laid out around the springs, and the resort needed a centre for its social season.
Giovanni Battista Giovenale, a Roman architect and a restorer of medieval churches, designed the Grand Hotel on Piazza dell’Olmo; begun in 1908 and completed in 1910, it opened in 1911 as a single building combining a luxury hotel, a theatre and a casino — the format of the Central European Kursaal, transplanted to the Lazio hills.
The hotel function has gone, but the building still anchors the square, and its theatre continues as the Teatro Comunale di Fiuggi.
What you see
A symmetrical Liberty front addressing the square, with a raised central block and the restrained floral detailing of Italian Art Nouveau. The monumental staircase inside leads to the theatre.
The theatre is used for the town’s cultural season; the square in front is the heart of upper Fiuggi.
Practical information
- The Teatro Comunale hosts events; check the town’s cultural listings
- The exterior on Piazza Trento e Trieste is freely viewable
- In the upper town, a short distance from Fiuggi Fonte
- Allow 15 minutes
Getting there
Fiuggi lies in the hills of Ciociaria, in the province of Frosinone, about 80 km south-east of Rome. By car, take the A1 to the Anagni-Fiuggi exit and follow the SR155; buses run from Rome (Anagnina).
Nearby
- Grand Hotel Palazzo della Fonte
- Fonte Bonifacio VIII and the spa park
- The medieval upper town of Fiuggi
Sources
- Comune di Fiuggi
- Giovanni Battista Giovenale — Treccani
- Touring Club Italiano — Lazio
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