A New Shrine of Design, the Interno Marche Hotel, Opens Its Doors in Tolentino, Italy
MILAN — Situated in the central Italian town of Tolentino, a new hotel was opened Thursday by luxury furniture-maker Poltrona Frau’s former owner Franco Moschini. A shrine to design, the hotel is a cultural initiative that narrates the history of Italian and international design through the last 60 years and beyond.
Interno Marche was built by investment vehicle Moschini SpA, owned by the entrepreneur served as the former president of Poltrona Frau before it was acquired by Haworth Lifestyle Group in 2014. Poltrona Frau has been based in Tolentino since 1963. Haworth also owns Cappellini, Cassina, Janus et Cie, Luminaire, Ceccotti Collezioni, Karakter, Luxury Living Group, Interni and Zanotta.
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Inside the recently restored Villa Gabrielli, an Art Nouveau-era landmark, Interno Marche spans nearly 39,000 square feet and 30 rooms, 25 of which are dedicated to 25 different iconic designers while five long-stay suites are decorated in the lines, colors and styles of five movements that have shaped the 20th century: Arts and Crafts, Viennese Secession, Radical, Pop and Modernism.
The project was spearheaded by Cristiana Antonini and Claudio Tombolini’s Tolentino-based Ora Studio. The hotel is now home to 400 pieces of famous art, lighting, installations and furniture, including the legendary Poltrona Frau Vanity Fair armchair and Gio Ponti’s Superleggera (super light) chair. The architect and designer once threw it from the fourth story of a building and watched it bounce, to prove it was indeed the lightest chair ever made. Elsewhere, the property houses pieces from living maestros like Italy’s Michele De Lucchi, Australian industrial designer Marc Newson, Japan’s Studio Nendo and bygone ones like Gae Aulenti and Vico Magistretti.
“I am convinced of the need to give back what one has received and I have chosen to do so through positive cross-pollination. My intention is to convey that there is still the possibility of imagining great projects and, in a broad sense, a prosperous future,” Moschini said.
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