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Opened on 27 October 1897 opposite the station where most travellers reached Genoa, the Savoia was built by two industrialists as a modern grand hotel. It has received guests without a break for more than a century.
At a glance
The Grand Hotel Savoia stands on Via Arsenale di Terra, facing Piazza Acquaverde, with its monument to Columbus, and Genova Piazza Principe station. It was opened on 27 October 1897 by the industrialists Lippert and Fioroni. The hotel was promoted from the start for its technical comforts, and it was linked to the station by an underground passage. The building is not among the protected monuments listed by the Soprintendenza for the city of Genoa; its interest lies in its history as one of Italy’s oldest grand hotels still at work.
Key facts
- Where: Via Arsenale di Terra 5, Principe (Prè), Genova, Liguria
- Opened: 27 October 1897
- Founders: the industrialists Lippert and Federico Fioroni, founder and first president of the Italian hoteliers’ association
- Architect: not recorded in the sources we found
- Protection: not in the Soprintendenza list of protected buildings of the Comune di Genova (2022); the station opposite is
- Current use: hotel, run by Planetaria Hotels since 1999, today in the Curio Collection by Hilton
- Coordinates: 44.416980, 8.923012 · open in Google Maps
History
The hotel rose in 1897 beside Piazza Acquaverde, the square in front of Principe station. While the foundations were being dug, in March 1897, a hoard was found that became known as the “treasure of Acquaverde”. It was stolen soon afterwards, and a small garden at the hotel, the Giardino dei Pirati, now recalls the episode. The Savoia opened on 27 October of the same year.
Its founders were two industrialists, Lippert and Federico Fioroni. Fioroni was the founder and first president of the Italian association of hoteliers, which says something about the ambitions of the house. According to the hotel’s own account, reported by ANSA at its 120th anniversary, it was the first Italian hotel to have hot and cold running water in every room, with private bathrooms. An underground passage led directly from the hotel to the station, so that guests could come and go out of public view.
A guest book was opened in 1907. It records members of the Italian royal family, among them Victor Emmanuel III, the King and Queen of Denmark, and the composers Pietro Mascagni and Igor Stravinsky. After a difficult period the hotel was acquired in 1999 by the Planetaria Hotels group, which restored it. In 2017 an exhibition of archive photographs and documents marked the 120 years since the opening.
What you see
The entrance is a portico of three arches in pale stone-coloured render. The middle arch holds the door, reached by a few marble steps, and is flanked by two engaged columns; the arches on either side frame tall windows set in deep red reveals. A flat canopy of metal and glass projects over the pavement, and above it runs a balcony with a white balustrade, along which the name Grand Hotel Savoia is set in flowing gilt letters.
The storey above the balcony is striped in rose and white, with pilaster strips between the windows. To the right of the portico the wall changes to a deep Genoese red, with windows in plain white frames, a small iron balcony and a base of grey stone. The house number, 5, is fixed to the pilaster beside the right-hand arch.
Practical information
- The building is a working hotel; the front and the entrance can be seen from Via Arsenale di Terra and from Piazza Acquaverde at any time.
- The portico faces the street; the upper floors are best seen from Piazza Acquaverde.
- Ten minutes covers the exterior.
Getting there
The hotel faces Genova Piazza Principe, one of the city’s two main railway stations, and the entrance is a short walk from the station forecourt. The Principe stop of the Genoa metro is at the station. Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport is on the coast to the west of the city.
Nearby
- Genova Piazza Principe station, across the square; the station building is on the Soprintendenza list of protected monuments.
- The monument to Christopher Columbus in the gardens of Piazza Acquaverde.
- Via Balbi, which leads from Piazza Acquaverde towards the old city; Le Strade Nuove and the Palazzi dei Rolli (UNESCO, 2006).
- Liberty Genova, the city’s early-twentieth-century architecture.
Sources
- ANSA Liguria, “Grand Hotel Savoia Genova ha 120 anni”, 27 October 2017: opening date, founders, running water, the 1907 guest book, the 1999 acquisition.
- ANSA Lifestyle, “Dimora di re e vip, compie 120 anni il Grande Hotel Savoia a Genova”, 24 November 2017: Fioroni and the hoteliers’ association, the passage to the station, the Acquaverde treasure.
- Historic Hotels of the World – Then & Now, Grand Hotel Savoia (1897), Genoa: Federico Fioroni as builder.
- Grand Hotel Savoia, History, the hotel’s own account.
- Soprintendenza ABAP per la città metropolitana di Genova, Elenco degli immobili vincolati, Comune di Genova: the hotel is not listed; the Principe station is. No architect for the building was found in these sources, and the architectural description rests on the photograph. OpenStreetMap / Nominatim for the position.
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