The history of Villa Cipriani
Before becoming a hotel, Villa Cipriani was a country residence, a summer house and an inn.
Built in the Palladian period and improved in the eighteenth century, in 1889 it was bought by the English poet Robert Browning. Under his guidance the Villa acquired the noble Tuscan appearance that still speaks to the hills of Asolo. In 1902 it passed to a Venetian family, who used it as a summer house; later it was let out and turned into an inn.
1962: the Cipriani name arrives
In 1962 the property was bought by Rupert Guinness, second Earl of Iveagh. Lord Iveagh called on Giuseppe Cipriani, founder of Harry’s Bar in Venice, to turn the inn into a small hotel of character. From that moment the house became Villa Cipriani.
More than the name has remained of his signature: the furnishings of the American Bar are still those chosen in the 1960s, and dishes from the Cipriani tradition are still served in the restaurant.
In 1974 Villa Cipriani joined the Ciga Hotels group; in 1995 it passed to Sheraton and subsequently to Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Since 2012 it has belonged to Massimo Zanetti, who began a programme of conservation work intended to keep the original character of the house.
The guests who became part of the story
The memory of the Villa holds names such as the Queen Mother of England, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Juliana of the Netherlands, Albert of Monaco, Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio De Sica, Orson Welles, Peter O’Toole, Catherine Deneuve, Kim Basinger and Sharon Stone.
These are names to be recounted, because they belong to history. Discretion about present guests remains, by contrast, part of the way the Villa works.
