The Due Torri Hotel and Verona: history of a centuries-old bond
Destinazione
Fri, 02/12/2021 - 10:30
Due Torri Hotel
A lasting fil rouge connects the Due Torri Hotel and ‘his’ city. If Verona was a mosaic, it wouldn’t be complete without this tile, a palace that has always been the protagonist of many historical and cultural events. Also thanks to its location: the Due Torri Hotel faces Saint Anastasia’s square, magnificent example of Italian gothic style, as stone’s throw from Juliet’s famous balcony, Piazza Bra and the Arena.
Verona, chest of history and beauty
Verona boasts centuries of history, as the Roman amphitheatre tells, hosting the Arena Opera Festival since 1913, a festival known throughout the world. In this magical city, the fine line between art and life, literature and reality is blended and the Shakesperian drama of Romeo and Juliet is told by the places where the symbols of the universal love have lived: Juliet’s house with its famous balcony, her tomb and Romeo’s house are all pilgrimage destinations. Walking through these narrow medieval streets it’s possible to travel through time: you can find the Roman city, the gothic one, traces of the Byzantines and the Longobards, together with the remains of the age of Communes and Scaligeri’s period. Moreover, evidences of the dominion of the Venetian Republic and the Austrian empire are still present in the city’s aspect.
Arena Casarini
From the All’Aquila Palace to the Due Torri, a hotel at the centre of Verona’s life
The history of the Due Torri Hotel starts at the beginning of the 14th century, when it was known as the ‘All’Aquila’ Palace (the Eagle Palace): the choice of this symbol is related to the Scala Family and, in particular, to Cangrande I, imperial Vicar, the first who insert the symbol of the Hapsburg eagle in his family’s coat of arms. The palace, bought by the Bordieri Family, became a hotel in 1674, hosting the likes of Mozart and Goethe. In the 19th century, the hotel was renamed as the Grand Hotel Imperiale and it was theatre of historical events as the crowning of the exiled King Louis VXIII of France and the signing of the Peace Treaty of Villafranca. From one of the hotel’s balconies, Garibaldi talked to the people of Verona. After some ups and downs, the Due Torri finally became a luxury hotel again thanks to the commitment of Enrico Wallner, an illustrious landowner of Verona.
Wallner appointed Pino Casarini, one of the most important Italian fresco artists of the past century, to realize the pearl of art that today is the flagship of the structure: the Arena Casarini. The meeting room has been recently refurbished and reopened to public. Recent renovations have brought to light the magnificent frescoes representing circus allegories of acrobats, tightrope walkers, jugglers, contortionists, clowns, dancers and lion tamers, as well as horses, dogs, monkeys, a bear, an elephant, a giraffe and a camel: these are the protagonists of this whirlwind of colours and joy.
