Royal Hotel, Sanremo
Lorenzo Bertolini opened the Royal in 1872 among the olive groves above Sanremo’s new seafront, and his family runs it still — the grand hotel that drew the Belle Époque to the Riviera of Flowers.
At a glance
The Royal Hotel is the most famous of Sanremo’s grand hotels, opened in 1872 by the hotelier Lorenzo Bertolini and owned by his family ever since. Built in the international grand-hotel manner of the Belle Époque to designs by Alessandro Cantù (and later enlarged by Pio Soli), it stood among olive groves above the new seafront and quickly became an address of European aristocracy on the Riviera of Flowers.
Key facts
- Opened: 1872
- Founder: Lorenzo Bertolini (family-owned to this day)
- Architects: Alessandro Cantù; enlarged by Pio Soli (1880)
- Style: international Belle Époque grand hotel
- Status: a working luxury hotel
History
Sanremo’s rise as a winter resort began in the 1860s, when the railway reached the coast and northern Europeans came south for the mild climate. Lorenzo Bertolini opened the Royal in 1872 to house them, on a slope of olive groves above the new Corso Imperatrice.
Designed by Alessandro Cantù and enlarged by Pio Soli in 1880, the hotel grew with the resort, adding gardens and a seawater pool. Its guests came to include royalty and the financiers of Belle Époque Europe.
The Royal has survived wars and changes of fashion and remains, a century and a half on, in the hands of the Bertolini family.
What you see
A large Belle Époque block above its gardens, looking out to the Mediterranean — comfortable and international rather than tied to a single architectural style. The terraced gardens and the pool are part of its character.
It is a working hotel; the building and gardens are best seen from the seafront below.
Practical information
- A working five-star hotel; the exterior and gardens are the draw
- Above the Corso Imperatrice, near the seafront
- Combine with the Casinò and the old town
- Allow 10 minutes
Getting there
Sanremo is on the Ligurian coast near the French border, on the Genoa–Ventimiglia railway. By car, leave the A10 motorway at Sanremo.
Nearby
- The Casinò di Sanremo
- The Russian Orthodox church
- The seafront promenade (Corso Imperatrice)
Sources
- sanremostoria.it / Comune di Sanremo
- Royal Hotel Sanremo — 150th-anniversary history
- Touring Club Italiano — Liguria
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