Did you know that the famed Italian fashion family of Ferragamo – known for their style, craftsmanship, and creativity – also has a luxury hotel brand? The Lungarno Collection is a group of luxury hotels in Florence, Rome, and Milan, Italy. Ferragamo’s foray into hospitality began with the 1995 acquisition of the Hotel Lungarno in Florence, then The Gallery Hotel Art and the Hotel Continentale in Florence were added in 1999 and 2002, and the collection launched its Portrait brand in 2012.
According to an article in Travel Weekly, in an interview with Valeriano Antonioli, CEO of the Lungarno Collection, he said: “While we realize that there are some connections between fashion and hotels, there is a big obstacle to combining [the two], which is the difference between the speed of hotels and the speed of fashion. In the fashion industry, you change your shoes every six months. In hotels, you may need to keep the same curtains for years. A hotel requires longevity, therefore rather than leveraging the Ferragamo name, we leverage the family’s core and cultural values.”
According to the company: “When we decided to create this stunning collection of hotels, designed by Florentine architect Michele Bönan, the first question we asked ourselves was, what is our ideal hotel? The answer was simple: we wanted a hotel that reflected our personality, dreams and emotions, while opening up new horizons for us. A hotel in the heart of Italy, a place where guests could find themselves and revive their spirits. Lungarno Collection was inspired by this typically Florentine free spirit, offering guests a collection of wonderfully elegant, “tailor-made” atmospheres for days that brim with sheer happiness: waking up amid the unapparelled splendour of unique suites, just a heartbeat away from the city’s artistic masterpieces, and delighting in a plethora of contemporary, casual and gourmet Italian cuisine.
I have not been yet but it is on my list – have you?
Carrie x
