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25hours Hotel Florence: a stay in the landscape of Dante’s Divine Comedy

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The 25hours hotel in Piazza San Paolino, Florence, is perfectly grafted into the vision of the founder of the hospitality group, Christoph Hoffman, who required an always different theme for each project. In the case of the Florentine hotel, the theme chosen is the Divine Comedy, the well-known literary poem by Dante set in the three otherworldly realms of Paradise, Hell and Purgatory. The OTTO Studio team, in charge of the project, was able to convert the historical headquarters of the Loans Company of Florence Savings Bank into a sequence of scenes inspired by Dante. Thus, a never-ending of quotations, references and digressions that crosses and intersects the spaces freely welcomes the visitors. 

25hours, Piazza San Paolino, Florence, Italy, OTTO Studio <br /> Image copyright: @M. G. Fourcade L. Fantacuzzi
25hours, Piazza San Paolino, Florence, Italy, OTTO Studio
Image copyright: @M. G. Fourcade L. Fantacuzzi
25hours, Piazza San Paolino, Florence, Italy, OTTO Studio <br /> Image copyright: @M. G. Fourcade L. Fantacuzzi
25hours, Piazza San Paolino, Florence, Italy, OTTO Studio
Image copyright: @M. G. Fourcade L. Fantacuzzi

The genius loci, namely “the spirit of the place”, was a necessary starting point for a project placed in a piece of city history. If the genius loci survives changes caused by new functional arrangements, then it gives an indelible character to the landscapes, and this is the case. The project of OTTO Studio is, in fact, a “plus” of creativity to what already existed, and in which it is perfectly inserted. A visionary interpretation, which however did not leave behind the history of the district where it sit, but approached it lightly.

As for the specifics of the structure, the project involved the more than 170 rooms and common areas of the complex for an area of 10,750 square meters. These include a restaurant, a cocktail bar, a cinema room, a music room, a bakery and café, a wellness area and a large aromatic garden. The furniture selection holds quite a few surprises. OTTO Studio’s research has in fact developed on several lines, resulting in a composite design, as it were. Among these, salvage furniture found in artisan shops and antique markets, custom-made pieces by the team of OTTO Studio and objects from the Italian manufacturing tradition. 

25hours, Piazza San Paolino, Florence, Italy, OTTO Studio <br /> Image copyright: @M. G. Fourcade L. Fantacuzzi
25hours, Piazza San Paolino, Florence, Italy, OTTO Studio
Image copyright: @M. G. Fourcade L. Fantacuzzi
25hours, Piazza San Paolino, Florence, Italy, OTTO Studio <br /> Image copyright: @M. G. Fourcade L. Fantacuzzi
25hours, Piazza San Paolino, Florence, Italy, OTTO Studio
Image copyright: @M. G. Fourcade L. Fantacuzzi

The reinterpretation of Dante’s comedy passes, in terms of design and architecture, through a precise chromatic choice. For the rooms and environments inspired by the Hell reign were in fact chosen intense reds, while for the Paradise reign the choice fell, even to say, on ethereal colors. Added to this is the vast spectrum of materials employed, many coming from the Tuscan artisan tradition albeit interpreted in a non-traditional way. These include marble, mosaics, terracotta, metals, wood, ceramics, glass, mirrors and brocade.

As for the design of the individual areas, the reception is characterized by walls covered in wallpaper with a marbled design by OTTO Studio. The check-in desk is true art: it is in fact an installation created by the artist Patrick Bailly with vintage suitcases, painted in silver green and found around Europe by Davide Mariani, a former antiquarian and now owner of All’Origine, a company that retrieves and ennobles objects and memorabilia from Eastern Europe.

25hours, Piazza San Paolino, Florence, Italy, OTTO Studio <br /> Image copyright: @M. G. Fourcade L. Fantacuzzi
25hours, Piazza San Paolino, Florence, Italy, OTTO Studio
Image copyright: @M. G. Fourcade L. Fantacuzzi
25hours, Piazza San Paolino, Florence, Italy, OTTO Studio <br /> Image copyright: @M. G. Fourcade L. Fantacuzzi
25hours, Piazza San Paolino, Florence, Italy, OTTO Studio
Image copyright: @M. G. Fourcade L. Fantacuzzi

The entrance on Piazza San Paolino is dedicated to the greedy – this is the meaning of the sign created with the mosaic Picassiette technique. The range of food products offered here has been curated by the local bakery S. Forno. Looking up at the ceiling there is an installation consisting of kitchen utensils and food products of different materials: some crocheted, others made of fabric, others in papier-mâché or painted plaster.

The San Paolino restaurant shows inside a collection of large vases and jars in Tuscan terracotta and an installation of green sound-absorbing leaves made with fabrics and materials recovered by the artist Linda Nieuwstad. The design of the Lobby bar Sfere Celesti is also particularly enchanting, with antique mirror walls by the artisan Franco Falli and tables in blue glazed lava stone, as well as that of the Companion Bar, with polygonal basalt tile flooring. The inner courtyard, in shades of green, consists of ancient stone and zinc tanks creating small liquid realms with fountains, animal and aquatic plants. Finally, the cinema room is characterized by exposed brick walls – the same as the original ones of the building – and large hanging portraits depicting scenes of great classics of Italian cinematography.

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