Italy to Die For

Sicily. Syracuse. Ortygia. Ingegnere Sebastiano Russotti’s recent 5 star hotel investment, Ortea Palace. 75 Luxury rooms and conference facilities 0n the turquoise waters of the romantic Ionian sea.

 

August 31st 2017. Ingegnere Sebastiano Russotti, the financier, showing us, personally,  around the impressive 75 room luxury 5 star Ortea Palace Hotel Ortygia Syracuse, on the romantic  turquoise Ionian sea, Signore Sebastiano Russotti plans  to open in November 2017.

 

 

 

Ortygia. Sicily.  Ortea Palace 5 star Hotel 

 

Syracuse Sicily. Ortea Palace. Sensational new hotel opens November 2017, Ortea Palace. 5 star Luxe. 34.000.000. euro investment for Sicilian entrepreneur Sebastiano Russotti..

Ingegnere Sebastiano Russotti, One of Italy’s best known hoteliers is about to open the 75 room Ortea Palace 5star Luxury hotel.Ortea of Greek mythology reminiscent of Sicily’s Greco Romaine heritage. Sicily currently has 7 UNESCO Heritage sites, and is a fascinating place to visit Syracuse,  is a UNESCO World Heritage site. From ancient Greek times Syracuse has been a part of history.  .Ortygia has some splendid buildings, in a glorious pale peach coloured local stone, surrounded by the sea.   When the Italian Government put up for sale the old Art Deco Syracuse Post Office, (originally designed by the Italian Architecte Francesco Fichera in 1920, with works by the sculptor Florio..) there was a fierce battle to acquire a prestigious prime site on the charming harbour of Ortygia, on the romantic, turquoise Ionian sea.  Sebastiano Russotti was the successful bidder,  already owner of the successful hotels,  Milan Marriot, Rome Marriot Park, & the Hilton Naxos, ( near beautiful Taormina in Sicily) his original plan of 40 odd rooms was converted into a substantial undertaking of 75 rooms. At over 80 years of age this adventurous entrepreneur kept essential authentic Art Deco features whilst he undertook to gut the building so that exceptional hotel rooms could be incorporated into the fabric of the old building, which is decorated to the highest modernist standards, & respecting all the international standards norms. (fire.WIFI. etc) See the fabulous polycarbonate chandeliers that seem inspired by the Chihuly fountain chandeliers in the V.&. A. and the luxury marble flooring throughout the hotel. The comfortably sized top floor suites have large panoramique windows that ensure  fantastic views over the harbour, beautiful sea and cream stone city. The hotel is designed to offer all day dining.The hotel has been designed inside to hold World class conferences.  It also has an impressive wine cellar and a swimming pool & gym. In some of the rooms we noticed glamourous Rubelli fabrics and specially designed furniture.

Rusottfinance SpA, founded 1988, through an amalgamation. 

Russottfinance today owns large hotels, all of which are built and managed under the brand names of major international hotel chains: the Hilton Hotel of Giardini Naxos with 296 rooms overlooking  ​​the Bay of Taormina, the Rome Marriott Park Hotel in Rome, with 601 rooms, immersed in a lush Mediterranean park of 7.5 hectares between the city centre, Fiumicino airport and the new exhibition area, the Milan Marriott Hotel between the centre and the Fiera di Milano , with 321 rooms, all 4-star luxury hotels, and the Russott Hotel in Venice S. Giuliano, located between the historic centre and the airport, a 4-star hotel with 181 rooms and the Holiday Garden Club of Giardini Naxos,  with over 250 Apparts

Russottfinance is the finance vehicle behind  the  development of the former Post & Telegraph building in Syracuse, on Ortigia Island, into a 75 room hotel  which it is planned to open late 2017/early 2018.

Ortea Palace Ortygia Siracuse Sicily

 

Duomo Ortygia Syracuse Sicily

 

 

Redentore Festival fireworks from the Gritti Palace Hotel, Venezia.

Redentore Venice’s magical lagoon illuminated by a fountain of fireworks to celebrate the Redentore Festival

Redentore festival fireworks from the Gritti Palace, Venezia. See History of the  Venice yearly Redentore Festival in a feature below, please scroll down……..

 

 

Damien Hirst Venice. Exclusive photos from the Punta Della Dogana Damien Hirst exhibition. Fascinating exhibition in a magnificent setting. With thanks to the Pinault Collection. Go if you can……

Damien Hirst Punta de la Dogana Venice

Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst Venice

Damien Hirst Venice

Damien Hirst “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable” at Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, Venice
We feature exclusive photos from the Punta Della Dogana exhibition.
– Punta della Dogana – Pinault Collection presents “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable”. It is the first major solo exhibition dedicated to Damien Hirst in Italy since the 2004 retrospective at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples (“The Agony and Ecstasy”) and is curated by Elena Geuna, curator of the monographic shows dedicated to Rudolf Stingel (2013) and Sigmar Polke (2016) presented at Palazzo Grassi.
The exhibition is displayed across 5,000 square meters of museum space and marks the first time that Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, the two Venetian venues of the Pinault Collection, are both dedicated to a single artist.
Damien Hirst’s most ambitious and complex project to date, “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable” has been almost ten years in the making. Exceptional in scale and scope, the exhibition tells the story of the ancient wreck of the ship Unbelievable and presents what was discovered of its precious cargo: the impressive collection of Aulus Calidius Amotan, a freed slave better known as Cif Amotan II, destined to the legendary temple dedicated to the Sun.
The exhibition highlights the longstanding relationship shared by the artist and the Pinault Collection. A key artist for the Collection, Damien Hirst’s work has previously been exhibited at Palazzo Grassi, where it featured in the museum’s 2006 inaugural exhibition “Where Are We Going?”. With “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable”, the Pinault Collection accompanies the British artist in making a dream come true by opening both Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, allowing the artworks to establish a dialogue between the two exhibitions spaces.
The 2017 exhibition is part of a calendar of monographic shows dedicated to major contem- porary artists – Urs Fischer (2012), Rudolf Stingel (2013), Martial Raysse (2015) and Sigmar Polke (2016) – alternating with thematic exhibitions of works from the Pinault Collection.
.
at Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, Venice
until 3 December 2017

Redentore Venice Fireworks Festival and Traditional Street Markets week end of 15/16th July 2017

Redentore Venice’s magical lagoon illuminated by a fountain of fireworks to celebrate the Redentore Festival

Redentore Venice

On the third Saturday and Sunday of each July, Venice celebrates the Redentore Festival, or Festa del Redentore. Venetians also refer to the festival as “The Famous Night of Fireworks.” Still another reference to the festival is known as Redeemer Day.

Whatever one would call it, this wonderful Venetian festival signifies the end of the1557  plague in Venice  and is deemed as one of the most disastrous plagues in Venetian history. 50,000 Venetians died from this plague, including the famous Italian painter, Tiziano Vecellio. It is also the oldest, most consistently celebrated festival in Venetian history.

The Festa del Redentore, or Redeemer Day, features vivid pyrotechnics displayed over the water.  The fireworks take place the night prior to the Redentore Festival amidst decorated Venetian boats where visitors and residents can dine. Venetians also admire the fireworks from their decorated wooden terraces and on rooftops.

The Zattere, which denotes “raft” in Italian, dates back to 1519 (before the plague) when it was first constructed as a landing dock for timber delivery and ship and building construction. The spacious waterfront walkway is adjacent to the southern shore from the Marittima and San Basilio on to the Punta della Dogana. The Island of Giudeca is directly south. The splendid Redentore Church and Giudeca Island are clearly visible while walking along the Zattere.

Andrea Palladio was commissioned to build the majestic church on the Island of Giudecca.

Whilst the first stone of the church was laid, a temporary wooden church was erected on the third Sunday of July. A long, floating walkway united San Marco Square and the Giudecca Island (from the Zattere) which was built on hundreds of pontoons. In the 16th Century, the Doge and local dignitaries led survivors along the walkway to give thanks to the end of the plague at the temporary church.

Each year (and for centuries—in fact, to present day), army barge bridges have been built between Guidecca Island and the Zattere for the Redentore Festival. The centuries-old solemn yet majestic Venetian church built in honor of the end of the horrific plague is known as the II Redentore.

As time went on, the processions to the Redentore Church lessened and they were replaced by less somber activities like the Festa del Redentore. Typical with all popular Venice festivals, the traditional activities of the Redentore include street markets which sell local Venetian foods and fresh produce, and a charity raffle run by the Redentore Church patronage. These take place beginning on the third Sunday morning on Giudecca Island near the famed church.

And any traditional Venice festival would not be a true celebration without a regatta, which is comprised of Venetian rowing races that are held along the Giudecca Canal, also on that third Sunday morning of July. Religious celebrations are held throughout the day during the Redentore Festival in Venice.

 

Sicily, Modica, Hotel Palazzo Failla & Locanda del Colonnello Restaurant

Modica Hotel Palazzo Failla

Modica Hotel Palazzo Failla

Absolutely and without question, the Palazzo Failla in Modica Alta. The Failla family opened this lovely hotel in their family palazzo. The resultant restoration is gorgeous; the master bedroom, replete with original floor tiles from the Sicilian ceramic city of Caltagirone, are one of the many options for guests. In 2008, the family opened a dependance across the road from the original hotel where suites that include every modern convenience (Spa tubs, steam showers for example) are available. There is a restaurant for the hotel La Locanda del Colonnello, which  offers  typical Sicilian fare.

Via Blandini, 5 – 97015 Modica (RG)

Tel: +39.0932.941.059

Courtesy & with thanks Travels across Italy

 

 

 

Melania Trump comes up Roses in Dolce Gabbana floral collarless coat as she arrives in Taormina Sicily.

Melania

Melania Trump. Arriving Taormina. Courtesy Daily Mail on Line. Photo  Courtesy AP

US First Lady Melania Trump, left, is welcomed by Emanuela Mauro, spouse of Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni at Chierici Palace, part of a visit of the G7 first ladies in Catania, Italy, Friday, May 26, 2017. On Friday and Saturday, for the first time all seven are around the same table, including also newcomers Emmanuel Macron of France, Theresa May of Britain and the Italian host, Paolo Gentiloni, forging a new dynamic after a year of global political turmoil amid a rise in nationalism. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

US First Lady Melania Trump, left, is welcomed by Emanuela Mauro, spouse of Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni at Chierici Palace, part of a visit of the G7 first ladies in Catania, Italy, Friday, May 26, 2017. On Friday and Saturday, for the first time all seven are around the same table, including also newcomers Emmanuel Macron of France, Theresa May of Britain and the Italian host, Paolo Gentiloni, forging a new dynamic after a year of global political turmoil amid a rise in nationalism. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis) Photo Courtesy and with Thanks. Courtesy and with thanks Daily Mail on Line.

Taormina jet setters paradise, a Sicilian jewel overlooking the Ionian sea.

Where chic glamour tops Uber ……

The G7 meetings will be held at the San Domenico Palace Hotel a former Monastery.

Beautiful Sicily was the star of  Italian Director Luchino Visconti’s 1960’s cult film, The Leopard, inspired by the best selling novel written by Giuseppe di Lampedusa, The Leopard, Il Gattopardo, set in Sicily, & made into an epic film with French heart throb Alain Delon, Burt Lancaster, & Claudia Cardinale. Sicily still retains the romance of another era, with frescoed, gilded & mirrored  Palazzos illuminated by Murano chandeliers.

The Trumps will staying at Taormina’s  Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo, with its splendid views over the Ionian seas.

On a previous trip Donald Trump stayed at the glamourous Atlantis Bay Hotel. TAORMINA, Sicily.

Melania Trump’s outfits on this tour have been elegant and appropriate for a first lady accompanying American President Donald Trump.

 

 

 

 

3Jolie Milan Uber chic restaurants

 

Nottideleon 3Jolie

Nottideleon 3Jolie Milanais restaurant for the casual uber chic.   A fun place to go suggested by Mariano Delorenzo Italian Food Industry superstar.

Via Fratelli Induno 1 | MM 5 Fermata Gerusalemme, 2

 

nottidaleonNottideLeon 3 Jolie Restaurant 3 Jolie restaurant in Milan

 

 

Just Cavalli Milan Glamourous Restaurant & Night club with Terrace.& Pelle d’Oca

Disco club in Milan, Italy Glamorous gourmet restaurant & nightclub of fashion designer, with a terrace & observation tower. Located in: Torre Branca Address: Torre Branca, Via Luigi Camoens, 20121 Milano, Italy

Disco club in Milan, Italy
Glamorous gourmet restaurant & nightclub of fashion designer, with a terrace & observation tower.
Located in: Torre Branca
Address: Torre Branca, Via Luigi Camoens, 20121 Milano, Italy

Popular disco & restaurant suggested by Mariano Delorenzo, Italian food industry Super star.

Just Cavalli Nite Club party for News Year Eve

Just Cavalli Nite Club party for News Year Eve

 

Pelledoca

Pelledoca,Viale Enrico Forlanini 121,Milan. Popular Restaurant and discotheque suggested to us  by Italian food super star  Mariano DeLorenzo

 

 

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017 Sicilian Fairytale. Totally amazing………

Dolce & Gabbana Sicilian Fairytale collection for Summer 2017. Photos courtesy & with thanks Vogue

Dolce & Gabbana Sicilian Fairytale collection for Summer 2017. Photos courtesy & with thanks Vogue

Dolce & Gabbana summer 2017. Courtesy & with thanks Vogue.

Dolce & Gabbana summer 2017. Photo Courtesy & with thanks Vogue.

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue

 

Dole & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue

 

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue

 

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue

 

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Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo Courtesy & with thanks Vogue

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue.

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue.

 

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo with thanks courtesy Vogue.

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo with thanks courtesy Vogue.

 

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue.

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue.

 

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2017. Photo courtesy & with thanks Vogue