|
 Viareggio
came into its own in the 1920s as one of the most famous and popular
seaside resort in Italy; its popularity goes together with the
restructuring of old hotels and the building of new ones which
substantially transformed the look of the Viareggio coastline.
In 1921 Florence
nobleman and engineer Giuseppe De Micheli, owner of a thermo-hydraulic
industry, bought the land to build a new Hotel, and also took the
task to improve the area located in front of the future Hotel in
view of the subsequent construction of the bathing establishment
realised in 1938.
The new Hotel, called
Select and built in the record time of just 240 days, immediately
became the favourite place of the smart set in Italy and abroad,
including aristocrats, notables and members of the moneyed
bourgeoisie, in addition to intellectuals and artists.
In 1927 the major
newspaper reported the event of the year, a diplomatic visit to
Viareggio by His Royal Highness, Prince Seis Islam Mahamet, second
son of the King of Yemen, and his delegation: The Hotel chosen for
the Prince’s stay was the Select.
In this carefree holiday
atmosphere the summer nights were filled with a whirl of balls,
charitable events, and the election of beauty queens until 1938 when
Knight De Micheli was invited by the Ministry of Popular Culture to
give the Hotel and bathing establishment an Italian name, ordering
the immediate withdrawal from circulation of brochures bearing the
name Select Palace.
Within fifteen days the
Select switched its name to the Principe di Piemonte.
In the last years the
Hotel went through a rapid decline, until 2001 when a group of
important entrepreneurs decided to buy the Hotel and were able, with
strong investments and nineteen months of renovation, to bring it
back to its deserved original beauty. |
