OUR HISTORY

The Villa was built in 1924. Its architecture and dense floral decoration truly reflect the artistic movement of the period, known elsewhere in the world as Art Nouveau but which in Italy bares the name ‘Liberty Style’. The Villa construction was commissioned by the Bellini family, originally from Milan, thus the original name ‘Villa Bellini’, a name which can still be read on a chapiter at the garden entrance.

The Bellini family, having no heirs, decided to donate all their possessions to a Milan school run by an order of nuns, who used the Villa as a summer camp for children in their care. In the years to follow, the Villa was made available to Cannobio comune which decided to transform it into a middle school until, lastly, it was bought by private individuals who called it ‘Villa Maria’.

26 March, 1989. This is the date on which the Fioretti family opened the doors of the ‘Ristorante Villa Maria’ restaurant for the first time, which they continued to run with great passion, receiving numerous awards, over the following seventeen years. The family ceased management in 2006 for a brief period.

The Fioretti family returned to the helm of the Ristorante Villa Maria, also offering their guests the opportunity to spend the night within the Villa itself. But the challenges did not end there. In 2017, the family decided to take on an important and meticulous restoration project and thus VILLA MARIA Hotel Residence was born.