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Count Ernesto Bocca lived in Turin with his family, the CEO of Italy’s leading tannery which had been in his family for three generations. Ernest Bocca, who had refined aesthetic tastes and was a passionate traveller decided to hand down to future generations the ancient art of luxury hospitality, founding SINA Società Internazionale Nuovi Alberghi.
The company’s first hotel was in Florence where the heritage Palazzo dei Baroni de Renzis Sonnino was restored and turned into a luxury 5-star hotel. The Shah of Persia and his wife Farah Diba were among the first guests, followed by members of many royal families and celebrities from the worlds of culture and art.
Count Bocca decided to create a collection of luxury hotels, and then chose the Eternal City where he purchased the Bernini Bristol, which had a tradition in hospitality dating back to 1874. Situated in the heart of the city it fast became popular with VIPS and industrialists attracted by the stunning 19th-century tapestries and sumptuous decor. Matilde, who had inherited her father’s passion, joined him in the family business.
Viareggio in Versilia is the most popular seaside resort town for Florence’s high society, and it was here that the third SINA Hotel opened its doors. The Hotel Astor is on the promenade and the restaurant with its seafood specialities and famous chef’s salads has long been a major attraction.
Matilde’s brother Bernabò joined the group and together they made a winning team, leading SINA on from success to success. Ernesto Bocca then fell in love with and bought the Brufani in Perugia, a luxury property where the ancient heritage of hospitality has been preserved and where each detail is unique: the massive stone fireplace, the fine parquet floors, the painted stucco work. And so the Brufani became the fourth property in the collection and down the years counted many celebrities, including the Queen Mother Elizabeth of England, among its guests.
Milan, Italy’s financial city par excellence, was still missing and SINA remedied this by purchasing the De La Ville which is in a strategic position between the Cathedral, the La Scala Opera House and the elegant stores on Via Montenapoleone. And it did not take long for the hotel’s Visconteo Bar to become a favourite with Milan’s high society.
That same year the group added the Palace Maria Luigia in Parma. Alongside luxury hospitality SINA has always offered its guests genuine Italian culinary traditions and so Parma, which is the ne plus ultra of Italian cuisine, was the ideal choice. The hotel is named after Maria Luisa of Austria, the Duchess of Parma and wife of Napoleon, whose aura still pervades this city.
Matilde and Bernabò, the founder’s two children, continued to expand the group and to realize their father’s dreams – the Count had always wanted to acquire a hotel in Venice, allowing visitors to complete the classical Rome, Florence and Venice tour while enjoying the unique atmosphere of the SINA Hotels. SINA’s Palazzo Sant’Angelo in Venice is a boutique hotel on the Grand Canal with refined rooms and stunning views of passing gondolas.
Celebrated architects were by now making their name creating design hotels with unique details, using new materials and introducing special effects. SINA appeared on this new scene and transformed an elegant Art Nouveau palazzo in the heart of Milan into the Hotel The Gray. With only 21 rooms, each one different from the other, the hotel quickly became a new model, attracting fashion, movie and entertainment celebrities looking for something original and different. Milan’s famous Galleria, which never sleeps, can be seen from The Grey’s windows and some of its rooms.
Matilde and Bernabò felt the pull of Turin, their family’s city, and decided to transform the 18th-century family villa into a Relais of charm. The Villa Matilde, set in verdant parklands in Romano Canavese, 35 kilometres north of Turin heading towards France and Switzerland, exudes the traditions of this aristocratic family. Villa Bocca, where the family had spent their summers enjoying the beauty of the surrounding countryside, was given a major renovation, blending the period areas and furnishings with the needs of today’s guests. A step back into history with its frescoed halls, spacious rooms overlooking the park and with the restaurant in the old stables.
And then it was Venice again. How could anyone resist the Palazzo Genovese, ones of Venice’s most beautiful palazzos on the Grand Canal? The surprise inside is that Bernabò and Matilde did not want it to be another typical Venetian hotel and so they called in the architect Guido Ciompi, who had created The Gray, to turn it into a design hotel. At the time this might have seemed quite a risk, but today the Centurion Palace, beside the Church of the Salute, is a protagonist in the lively Dorsoduro district between the Peggy Guggenheim Museum and the Punta della Dogana. With colours and furnishing in chromatic harmony the unique Centurion Palace is an international drawing card.
SINA changed its look, dropping its old logo, and creating the Shell which is the symbol of a home, of uniqueness, elegance and hospitality. It also entered into a partnership with the Sorgente Group which entrusted SINA with two gems: the Bellevue Suites & Spa in Cortina d’Ampezzo and the Castle of Mirambeau in France, in the region between Bordeaux and Cognac.
