Grand Hotel Plaza & Locanda Maggiore (1787/1914)

What today bears the name of Grand Hotel Plaza & Locanda Maggiore, with an entrance on Piazza del Popolo, is the oldest hotel in the city.

The Cassinesi Monks, owners of the spa following the donation by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, took on the construction according to the contract and entrusted its construction to the grand-ducal architect Gaspero Maria Paoletti.

Thus, at the end of the 18th century, the first accommodation facility worthy of the name was born in Bagni di Montecatini: it was La Locanda, then divided into Maggiore and Minore.

The first, more dignified, the Locanda Maggiore, will be built on the corner of the Viale dei Bagni now Viale Verdi, at the beginning of the route towards the establishments, and will be reserved for the wealthiest customers; the Minore immediately next door, but on the so-called Via Pistoiese, will host the less well-off, lodged and cared for at the expense of the ecclesiastical owners as expressly desired by the Grand Duke.

The entire complex, begun in 1784, should have been built in just three years, but the construction times extended at least until 1792 because the Monks embellished the building as much as they could, spending over 30,000 scudi.

In 1841, the Paoletti building was expanded by the engineer Giuseppe Michelacci at the behest of the Deputation that led the Baths, intending to increase its capacity. With the construction of new buildings, the ancient Locanda Maggiore will occupy an entire square of buildings. Inside, it will house a large garden and then a Variety Theatre that operated until the first decade of the 20th century, a Theatre that is due to Napoleone Melani, director of the hotel and an enterprising character, among other things founder of the newspaper "Il Tettuccio", who in 1895 commissioned its construction.

Purchased in 1912 by entrepreneurs Felice Bisleri and Cazzaniga, the hotel grew in tone and magnificence. The newspapers were already praising its qualities:
“The Locanda Maggiore, formerly managed by Mr. Napoleone Melani, .. with splendid rooms and elegant halls … is equipped with all modern comforts, all sanitary facilities and also has an elegant and very popular summer theater” (From La Lanterna, June 30, 1906).

The complex was redesigned in 1914 by architects Giulio Bernardini and Ugo Giusti who created a luxury hotel, expanded and raised to contain 220 rooms, and characterized by a completely new facade on Piazza del Popolo and a majestic portico on Viale Verdi which would house a café, which soon after became a chantant, the Gambrinus.

The fame of La Locanda grew. The press of the time celebrated its spacious rooms, with high ceilings and large windows, the coolness even in the hottest months and the beauty of the furnishings, completely renovated in 1925.

But its most illustrious guest, Giuseppe Verdi, certainly contributed a lot to bringing the hotel to the forefront with his mere presence, choosing it as his home for years during the summers that he spent in Montecatini from 1882 to 1900 to undergo treatments.

The Swan of Busseto retreated here to regain inspiration, to meet his friends Arrigo Boito and Giulio Ricordi, to compose the music of very important pages of his production such as the third act of Otello and the orchestration of Falstaff.

We like to imagine a man with a stern demeanor and a silent manner, his mind immersed in his pentagrams, concentrated in a creative solitude, who arrives punctually every 3rd of July at the hotel in the spa town, certain of finding well-being in his stay. And, next to him, with faithful dedication, the old director, Napoleone Melani, very efficient in keeping curious people and visitors away from his very special client.

In the main hall a plaque still commemorates the great composer: «For many summers up until the year MCM, this was the welcome home of Giuseppe Verdi. When, almost tired of glory, he sought among the green of the fields and the splendor of the sky the serene quiet of the spirit that he always placed before all the noise of triumph».

On July 7, 1901, six months after the great composer’s death, a plaque in his memory was placed on the facade of the hotel overlooking Viale Verdi: “In the last 25 years he sought in these waters the secret of making his youth long and he confided to these auras those indefinite notes of the soul that the genius divines on the threshold of immortality”

Today at the Grand Hotel Plaza we live on memories but also on the present: the monumentally beautiful structure has been the subject of restorations and is an example of luxury and sobriety at the same time. Even though renovated, the hotel still conveys the splendor of times when it attracted around itself the elite of finance, politics and international nobility.