A discreet 11-room boutique hotel in the tiny village of Pella (population 1,000) on the serenely beautiful Lake Orta, north of Milan, may look unassuming. Yet Casa Fantini—where a protected white-stuccoed house, over 200 years old, has been melded sympathetically to a new three-story concrete-framed bar-shaped structure—is a catalyst in the regeneration of this picturesque enclave, home to Fratelli Fantini, manufacturers of high-design bathroom fixtures. When the CEO Daniela Fantini took over the company after her father’s death in 1990, there was no place for business guests to stay in the village or many touristic amenities. Fantini decided to change that, with a hotel that accommodated both business-related visitors and vacationing guests. “The main landmark in the town has been an ice cream shop located in a historical tower,” she says. “Our hotel will give added value and attract more tourism. We live in a beautiful place—it influences the design of Fantini products. We wanted to express that in the hotel as well.”
Logically, she turned to the creative force behind some of the company’s products, plus its graphics and branding—Piero Lissoni, who is also an architect and has designed a number of striking hotels, such as the recently opened Mamilla in Jerusalem. Lissoni’s guiding principle was that the architecture needed to be both new and elegant, like Fantini products, but defer to the historic character of the town, enhancing its idyllic lakeside setting.
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