A chic, designer version of the mountain refuge, perched at an altitude of 1,800 meters. This new member of the Small Luxury Hotels of The World chain resurrects a former sanatorium dating from 1912: a very ambitious project originally entrusted by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy to the architect Otto Wagner, a master of Art Nouveau, known for changing the face of Vienna. But after his death and the outbreak of the First World War, a more modest building was finally erected. Long abandoned, it was converted into a hotel in 2010 by Alois Hinteregger.
His son, Stefan, then took over and renovated it and decided to add a contemporary extension, designed by architect Armin Sade in glass, wood, and stone from the South Tyrol region, which is carbon-neutral and heated with renewable energy.
Its unstructured lines evoke the jagged peaks that surround it: a strong aesthetic that also impresses from the inside, from the 62 rooms, suites, and penthouses, from the terrace of chef Roland Lamprecht’s locavore restaurant, which claims to be a “forest kitchen,” or from the 2,000 m2 spa, completed by an impressive indoor swimming pool that seems to be suspended in the void.
Forestis, Italy
Céline Baussay