The Grand Hotel Brissago was built by the architect Paolito Somazzi and opened in 1906. Somazzi was at the time considered a specialist in hotel construction and was the builder of important hotels in Lugano. It was a luxurious hotel that included stately apartments with several rooms and, by the standards of the time, equipped with luxurious sanitary facilities. Magnificent terraces overlooking Lake Maggiore, loggias, a tennis court, a lift, central heating, a reading room, billiard room and dining room where a five-man band played music – these were the features that distinguished the luxury hotel. Many celebrities have stayed there for short periods or often for weeks, such as Thomas Mann, Ernest Hemmingway, Hermann Hesse, Vladimir Nabokov, Kurt Tucholsky, Erich Maria Remarque and many others. A particularly good guest was the composer and musician Ruggero Leoncavallo, who later had a villa built in the immediate vicinity of the hotel. During the Second World War, the hotel served as an internee home for 150 refugee women and their children. After the hotel was occupied by vandals and thieves and after an arson attack, the hotel was closed 1971 and demolished in 1989 to make way for a modern residential building.
The Grand Hotel Brissago was built by the architect Paolito Somazzi and opened in 1906. Somazzi was at the time considered a specialist in hotel construction and was the buil ...
der of important hotels in Lugano. It was a luxurious hotel that included stately apartments with several rooms and, by the standards of the time, equipped with luxurious sanitary facilities. Magnificent terraces overlooking Lake Maggiore, loggias, a tennis court, a lift, central heating, a reading room, billiard room and dining room where a five-man band played music – these were the features that distinguished the luxury hotel. Many celebrities have stayed there for short periods or often for weeks, such as Thomas Mann, Ernest Hemmingway, Hermann Hesse, Vladimir Nabokov, Kurt Tucholsky, Erich Maria Remarque and many others. A particularly good guest was the composer and musician Ruggero Leoncavallo, who later had a villa built in the immediate vicinity of the hotel. During the Second World War, the hotel served as an internee home for 150 refugee women and their children. After the hotel was occupied by vandals and thieves and after an arson attack, the hotel was closed 1971 and demolished in 1989 to make way for a modern residential building.
