The Poet Hotel, La Spezia

The Poet Hotel is the design proposal by FDA architects to renovate the historic Hotel Astoria in La Spezia. The proximity to the central station, within the Umbertino district in the historic center of the city, make it a new point of reference for international tourism that moves to the Cinque Terre every year.

After the main renovation, which began in 2016 and ended in 2018, the FDA Fiorini D’Amico Architetti studio opened a new design chapter with a recently completed renovation project that involved 10 rooms and the common areas of the hotel. The setup of the common areas had never really been completed and remained unfinished.

The owner, Aurelio Boraschi of the Albergo Roma company, therefore decided to complete this part as well, entrusting us with the relooking of the entrance and lobby,” explains Alessio Fiorini, co-founder along with Roberto D’Amico of FDA Architetti. At the same time, work was also done on the restyling of 10 rooms, proposing the winning concept that had characterized the first renovation intervention with a design that plays with the eclectic style of The Poet. The building was already born as a hotel in 1900, in the Umbertino district in the historic center of LaSpezia, with a richly decorated facade in the characteristic colors of the Ligurian cities and preserved until today.

It lives in a suspended atmosphere between past and future, which is the research theme carried forward by the architects. The initial renovation project was born with the collaboration of Hospitality Project, a company that deals with the functional distribution of spaces and budgeting of interventions, and with the marketing consultancy of Nicola Delvecchio of Teamwork Hospitality, a Rimini-based hotel consultancy company, which conceived the name The Poet with a clear reference to the poets who fell in love with the Cinque Terre and who spent part of their life there, such as Lord Byron and Percy Shelley with his wife Mary.

The hotel’s 57 rooms are organized on three floors while, as current hotel trends dictate, on the ground floor we find fluid and multifunctional spaces, the hall, the lobby, where you can have breakfast, meet for a drink in the evening or work thanks to the large wired social table. There is also a lounge area and a separate meeting room for business meetings. The materials chosen for the furnishings are natural finish oak, waxed iron sheet, and Carrara marble. All furnishings are tailor-made.

The design is impactful, colorful, with vintage elements in a continuous play between rigor and softness of style with the desire to create a place full of vitality, where all elements, from environments to lights, establish a dialogue between the hotel space and the traveler. Finally, the styling by Emanuele Martera and a selection of works by Spezzino artists enrich the atmosphere of both the rooms and public spaces.