Coppola opens luxury hotel in southern Italy that time does have American film director Francis Ford Coppola put Hollywood on the background. In addition to producing, since 1975, some of the most famous wines of California, the Director also serves on the hotel industry, more precisely since 1993, when it opened its first resort in Central America.
To Italy, however, is a place that accompanies the story of the filmmaker. In addition to gaining international recognition with the the Godfather trilogy, which depicts the saga of a family of Sicilian mobsters in the United States, Coppola is the grandson of Italians who, in 1904, emigrated to New York, leaving behind the town of Bernalda, Basilicata, Southern "Boot". It's no coincidence, therefore, that this picturesque village on the banks of the Mediterranean is the place chosen by him to house your most luxurious hotel, the Palazzo Margherita, which opened its doors in March.
"When I got home, I realized that it wouldn't be just a place in Italy for my friends and family call home. I understood that I should extend the property and the village for other guests, "says Coppola, who had the collaboration of French Interior Designer Jacques Grange to restore, for six years, inside and out, the Palace built in 1892. The atmosphere of the place was fully recovered: are there any original marble and tile floors, walls with plaster details and roofs decorated with hand-painted frescoes.
The furniture is all contemporary and was produced in part by local artisans, according to design of own Grange. With only seven suites and two rooms with private garden, the setting of the Palazzo Margherita includes comforts such as games of bed and luxury bathroom and is complemented by courtyards, fountains, pools, and high-tech items, both for security and for entertainment. One of the hotel's differential is also a movie theater privé with more than 300 titles, chosen by Coppola himself, of course.
And, as is in Basilicata, the gastronomy is one of the strengths of the Palazzo Margherita, which counts with a team of local chefs. They produce all masses and the Add-ons in the kitchen of the hotel itself and follow a menu that obviously includes wine produced by Coppola. If the combination of architecture and cuisine of southern Italy is not enough to enchant guests – and justify the value of daily, around € 2 thousand – the hotel offers tours to the historic province of Matera – where there is another hotel that occupies prehistoric caves and the beautiful beaches of-Mediterranean, that are less than five minutes from the location. (FABIO DE PAULA)
