The City of San Pellegrino Terme in northern Italy gives its name to the world's best-known brand of mineral water (now owned by Nestle) that, in 2007, sold over 800 million bottles worldwide. During the 'Belle Epoque' of the late 1800s and early 1900s San Pellegrino Terme was engulfed in elegance and splendour attracting royalty, diplomats and celebrities as a result of its mineral springs, the quality of its sub-Alpine setting and its extraordinary art nouveau, seven story Grand Hotel and, on the opposite side of the Brembo River, the magnificent Casino.This traditional wellness resort, located some 20 km north of the historic city of Bergamo and 80 km north of Milan, in the Lombardy Region of northern Italy, straddles the Brembo River at the heart of the Brembana Valley, the gateway to the Bergamo Alps and the peaks of the Castello Delta Regina and Zucco Mountains.
The therapeutic properties of the mineral spring waters of San Pellegrino were well known in the Middle Ages. They were referred to by Leonardo da Vinci as being "miraculous".Recently plans have been announced by the Lombardy-based property company, the Percassi Group, and its operational company, Premium Retail, to recreate the Belle Epoque for San Pellegrino Terme. This is an extraordinary and ambitious regeneration scheme involving, as its centrepiece, a new spa complex designed by French architect, Dominique Perrault.Premium Retail is a wholly owned subsidiary company of the Percassi Group, a world leader in the development and operation of commercial networks of top brands in clothing and luxury accessories.
Established over 30 years ago, the Group has created prestige brand platforms for the likes of Calvin Klein, Nike, Benetton, Zara and Ferrari. The Percassi Group is also involved in a number of ambitious, large scale, real estate projects in Italy and overseas including the IBM Italian HQ and the Canyon Forest Village at Grand Canyon National Park, USA. Premium Retail specialises in the design, development, marketing, sales and management of exclusive real estate retail especially in the luxury markets.Premium Retail's intriguing plans for San Pellegrino Terme are designed to completely re-energize and regenerate this remarkable, historic center of wellness and spa tourism.
Their 140 million concept aims to 'create a place within a place', harnessing the San Pellegrino inherent brand awareness and its traditions to recreate an exclusive, high-value tourism destination. This will echo and mirror the elegance and style of the past but give it a modern, contemporary expression.This development's vision aims to create 'the most beautiful hot springs spa in the world', the restoration of the now abandoned Grand Hotel into a seven-star hotel and a residential complex with a luxury boutique retail complex the aim is to 'bring the world (back?) to San Pellegrino'.
The plans are intended to be a catalyst for the development of year-round tourism across this Region; this will build upon the winter snow sports of Val Brembana (especially Foppolo) and the cultural tourism interest of Bergamo Alta to develop high value tourism for the Valley.Architect Dominique Perrault was selected from an international architectural competition to realize the vision for the new San Pellegrino Terme complex that will complement the refurbishment of the Casino and the Grand Hotel to create a luxury seven-star destination.Perrault's design concept for the new spa is for a rocky structure set in the landscape on the western side of the Valley at the heart of the city on the site of the former water bottling factory.
The Mayor of San Pellegrino (Gianluigi Scanzi) is very supportive of the "nouvo complesso San Pellegrino Terme", recognizing that this will herald the renaissance of the Valley and the City. The realization of this vision is not without its challenges financially, physically, politically and psychologically.He states, "This project, when complete, will generate some 30,000 overnight stays a year and will support an estimated 2,500 jobs throughout the Valley. It will stimulate international awareness and interest but expectations will be heightened and we have to deliver quality visitor experiences as a community not just in the spa complex".For this reason the Percassi Group's plans for a Hotel School to be located in the City Centre is fundamentally important to the long-term success of this scheme.
It is an important component that demonstrates the potential of this investment for local people.This is genuinely a project of European status and significance. The brand significance and global knowledge of the San Pellegrino brand of mineral waters creates an unrivalled platform for place promotion and this type of investment in wellness tourism.
It is one of a number of major property development projects by the Percassi Group with a total investment in excess of 600 million but it is undoubtedly the most significant from a tourism perspective. The economic recession has slowed down the pace of the fulfilment of the San Pellegrino project, but has failed to knock it off course.The vision of this project is founded in a rich tradition and culture of wellness and luxury tourism. The team working on the project and working hard to secure its maximum benefits for the Valley Brembana is passionate, skilled and determined. It is a scheme that, if fully integrated with a strong collective effort to achieve a coordinated approach to destination development, can re-establish San Pellegrino Terme and the entire sub-region of the Brembana Valley and Bergamo as a major European wellness destination.
