The Grand Hotel Tremezzo, overlooking Lake Como, Bellagio and the Grigne mountains, and adjoining the gardens of Villa Carlotta in Italy is an art nouveau treatment center originally opened in 1910 as a hotel by Enea Gandola and his wife Maria Orsolini and taken over in the 1930s by the Sampietro family, who established it as an exclusive hotel and spa. Greta Garbo put the hotel on the map in the 1932 film Grand Hotel. The hotel changed ownership again in the mid-1970s, and last year Valentina De Santis became CEO.  Valentina is the third generation of the De Santis family to own and run the hotel.

First order of business by Valentina was to update the hotel and spa and bring the historic monument into the 21st century without losing its original charm.  De Santis hired local architect firm Venelli Kramer to renovate the hotel’s spa facilities. The architects began by turning a narrow and largely unused arched passage under the hotel’s main entrance into the Espa-partnered T Spa. It now houses a 15m infinity pool, comprising two linked strands, and a sundeck with views across the lake. The team cut into the hotel’s foundations, to link the narrow strips of real estate to an outdoor whirlpool and lounge.

Venelli Kramer inserted a treatment area and changing rooms underneath the building, again working with existing unused spaces but adding lashings of black Venetian marmorino, back-lit Persian onyx, vertical timber cladding and bespoke wooden furnishings, all made in Italy, to create a clean-lined, luxurious grotto.

The architects then advanced on what was formerly a fitness area, set in a detached villa in the hotel grounds, to create the new T Spa Suite. The space is designed for couples to share their massage moment (with a double treatment room) and comprises a cocoon of vertical wooden strips. The suite also includes a whirlpool, a sauna and a Turkish bath.

The refurbishment of its 18th-century, three-storey Villa Emilia, located conveniently next to the existing spa facilities offers three further treatment rooms, a hammam, a nail bar, a relaxation room and a specifically created new guest suite. The hammam, realised in flowing white Lasa marble, includes a raised massage platform, a steam room, a sauna, a tub and a rain shower.

The villa’s beauty area boasts three wood-clad treatment cabins with teak floors and handcrafted wooden furnishings, while the nail bar, tagged the Mosaico Studio, features a refurbished Venetian mosaic floor. The manicure tables are tailor-made in grey oak, and Venelli Kramer has also found space for a Flexform gold marble table, Minotti armchairs and a Penta chandelier. In the adjoining relaxation room, the original frescoed ceiling, seminato flooring and fireplace have all been restored.

The villa also now houses the Suite Emilia, for those who don’t want to stray too far from the spa facilities. It offers private access to the spa, and also includes an oversized whirlpool, a double rain shower and its own steam room, all lined in Lasa marble.

Treatments from €70 – €240.

For more information:
Grand Hotel Tremezzo
Via Provinciale Regina 8 Tremezzina, Italy
Telephone
39.034 442 491