Grand Hotel & La Pace, Montecatini Terme
Montecatini’s grandest hotel began in 1870 as a promise — La Pace, peace — and became, after 1901, a Liberty showcase: Bernardini’s architecture and Galileo Chini’s frescoes and stained glass, touched with Klimt’s gold.
At a glance
The Grand Hotel & La Pace is one of the most lavish of Montecatini’s Belle Époque hotels. A hotel called La Pace stood here from 1870; in 1901 the Italo-Swiss company Spatz Suardi rebuilt it as a grand hotel to the design of the architect Giulio Bernardini, and had its salons frescoed by the Liberty master Galileo Chini. The entrance still keeps Chini’s stained glass, made by his Fornaci San Lorenzo in a gilded, Viennese-Secession manner.
Key facts
- Built: a hotel from 1870; rebuilt as a grand hotel from 1901
- Developer: the Italo-Swiss company Spatz Suardi
- Architect: Giulio Bernardini
- Decoration: frescoes by Galileo Chini (Salone delle Feste, 1904); stained glass by the Fornaci San Lorenzo to Chini’s designs
- Style: Liberty (Italian Art Nouveau), with a Viennese-Secession accent
- Status: a five-star hotel and spa, under renovation in the mid-2020s
History
Montecatini’s thermal fortune drew hotels by the dozen, but few matched the ambition of La Pace. The first hotel of that name opened in 1870; in 1901 the Italo-Swiss company Spatz Suardi commissioned a full rebuilding as a grand hotel.
The architect Giulio Bernardini — who would later work on the Berzieri baths at Salsomaggiore — gave the hotel its form, and Galileo Chini gave it its surfaces. Chini frescoed the Salone delle Feste in 1904 and designed the stained glass, executed by his Fornaci San Lorenzo, whose gold grounds and figures echo the Vienna Secession and Klimt.
The hotel received royalty, composers and heads of state through the twentieth century; it has operated as a five-star hotel and spa and is under renovation in the mid-2020s.
What you see
The Liberty interiors are the prize: Chini’s frescoed Salone delle Feste and, at the old entrance on Corso Roma, his stained-glass windows — coloured glass and gold in a frankly Klimtian taste — remarkable examples of Tuscan Liberty glass.
The historic glass is best seen at the entrance.
Practical information
- A five-star hotel and spa, under renovation in the mid-2020s
- The Chini stained glass at the entrance is the highlight
- In central Montecatini, near the spa park
- Allow 15 minutes
Getting there
Montecatini Terme is in the Valdinievole, between Florence and Lucca. Trains stop at Montecatini Terme on the Florence–Lucca–Viareggio line; by car, leave the A11 at Montecatini Terme.
Nearby
- Terme Tettuccio
- Stabilimento Regina
- The funicular to Montecatini Alto
Sources
- Comune di Montecatini Terme — Terme e Liberty
- Archivio Galileo Chini (galileochini.it)
- FAI — Grand Hotel & La Pace
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