Set designer Marco De Luca’s Hotel Minervetta in Sorrento, Italy combines art, design and craftsmanship. A visit to the esthete stop with a composite spell.
When you arrive at the Minervetta parking lot, high above Sorrento on the Gulf of Naples, there’s no telling what this hotel hides and where it’s hidden. True, there is this breathtaking view of the Mediterranean Sea with Vesuvius in the distance, but you have to take the elevator hidden in the white block to get to the lower level. The doors open, the shock is immediate. An entryway with Ettore Sottsas’ Carlton library filled with art books, an armchair shaped like a giant foot by Gaetano Pesce, a wall covered in family photos…
Video: Deco training. color the window opening with interior designer Asma Salomon
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“I envisioned a hotel designed as a home”
The adjacent living room is in the same spirit. Everywhere the eye discovers publications by Taschen or Assouline, local ceramic sculptures, works of art, furniture signed by the biggest names in design… This atypical Minervetta, clinging to the cliff, where each of the thirteen rooms has a huge window. Like a TV screen that constantly spreads the thousands of blue shades of the waters of the bay, where a mix of styles is required, is the work of Marco De Luca. “My grandfather owned a hotel across the road. In the 1950s, he bought the land opposite to create a restaurant with a view, designed to host weddings, he says. When he died, forty years later, my mother inherited the place. He entrusted it to the managers and never set foot there. The rooms were adequate but it was terrible and slowly the place went into decline. Eighteen years ago I decided to give it a little twist. At first my thought was to live there. But, of course, it was financially impossible. So I envisioned a hotel designed as a home. Besides, I live there. I have reserved a small apartment there.
It was very important for me to highlight the craftsmanship of the region
Marco DeLuca
The construction lasted one year. Time generally quite short considering the dramatic situation. A set designer trained in Florence and at the Domus Academy in Milan, Marco designed the labyrinthine architecture of La Minervetta and its decor. Among its treasures, staged down to the millimetre, are many vases by Ettore Sottsass. “He was one of my teachers at Domus Academy and I am passionate about his work. My mother started a collection, so I continued. Sottsass geometric vases go surprisingly well with plaster virgins, colorful tableware, ceramic pieces from southern Italy. “It was very important for me to emphasize the craftsmanship of the region. That’s what this unique Mediterranean atmosphere provides,” continues Marco.
“Every month, at least, I change everything”
Furniture by Verner Panton, Eero Saarinen, Marcel Breuer, Arne Jacobsen also interacts with more rustic or Indonesian furniture. “I lived in Indonesia for a year and brought back a lot of furniture.” Above all, the hunter of these objects likes to have fun with his finds. “Every month, at least, I change everything,” he enthuses.
Another characteristic of La Minervetta: color. He is everywhere. Even in textiles. In white and blue stripes, they are a tribute to a part of his family that settled in Denmark. And on tables, beds… we recognize the collections of designer Lisa Corti. “As soon as La Minervetta opened, I bought some tablecloths. And little by little I added towels, aprons, blankets…”, completes Marko. And as the Lisa Corti brand celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, Marco can be happy to have brought the famous prints of incredible brightness, from bedrooms to kitchens, and signed a capsule collection with the label. Of course, the show is also outside. The volcano, the water that merges with the sky, the olive trees, the harbor below are the background for the terraces that descend from the steep wall. We discover many details: vintage chairs, vases with faces, busts of women and men or a summer bed placed along the pool that merges with the sea. Moreover, heaven is here.
laminervetta.com: ; lisacorti.com:
Source: Le Figaro
