Bolzano, South Tyrol
Parkhotel Laurin
Setting
The house stands on Laurinstraße in the middle of Bolzano, on a quiet side and still central. The station is around 200 metres away, the arcades, the fruit market and the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology with Ötzi a few minutes on foot. The valley stations of the cable cars to Ritten and Jenesien are in town as well. Bolzano airport is 7.8 kilometres out.
History
Built in 1910 to designs by the Munich architects Alois and Gustav Ludwig, a hotel ever since and today a listed building. It went up when Bolzano saw itself as a spa town of the monarchy, and it has come through two changes of state and two wars without losing its character.
Art Nouveau & art
The interior mixes historicism and Art Nouveau: handmade furniture, original door handles, stucco and period colours. The Laurin Bar is famous for the frescoes Bruno Goldschmitt painted in 1911, telling the legend of the dwarf king Laurin; they were restored in the early 1990s. Contemporary art hangs throughout the house, in the corridors as much as in the rooms.
Rooms & suites
Around 100 individually furnished rooms and suites are spread across twelve categories between 18 and 75 m². This trip is booked in the Laurin Suite of about 57 m², which with its own entrance feels more like a small apartment than a hotel room.
Dining
The Restaurant Laurin occupies a room of palms, Art Nouveau furniture and contemporary art and holds two toques from Gault&Millau; the cooking is Mediterranean-Alpine. Alongside it is the Contanima restaurant. Evenings gather in the Laurin Bar beneath the frescoes, and in summer in the park. The house holds regular jazz evenings.
Park & pool
The hotel's park is unusually large for a city hotel and full of blossom in spring. Among the trees lies the redesigned pool with whirlpool stations, a lawn for sunbathing and a pavilion of pale timber. In summer food is served here too.
