From protests to the threat of setting fire to the hotel built in the 1920s. The complaint of the owner of the Demidoff hotel (formerly Plinius): «Ostracism of the shops in the neighborhood, the popularity of the booking platforms collapsed. But now the hotel has conquered tourists ”
When in March 2021 the holder of the Demidoff hotel in via Plinio, had the idea of painting the facade of his hotel black and could not imagine the consequences that his choice would have triggered. “For months I had been stuck in the United States because of the lockdown of the year before and there I came up with the idea of adopting a dark color for our Milanese hotel – he says Nicole Chiappini, young heir of the family that manages the Demidoff since 1986 -, a color which is also very popular for London homes “. The property decides to hire a team of acrobatic workers for the painting which ends in June 2021. But even before the end of the works, the controversies begin. “The protests started immediately, on the initiative of our neighbors – says Chiappini – and the wave of hatred towards a choice that seemed completely legitimate to us, given that there is no regulation that prohibits choosing the color of the facade on condition that the building is not subject to the constraint of the superintendency, it immediately grew sui socialdove the attacks multiplied within a few weeks. And unfortunately it was only the beginning ». Once the work is completed, the hater keypads were unleashed against the property and also threatened the hotel fire.
–
The complaints
A year later, what it seemed a “harmless” aesthetic choice has created a over there implacable and things are no better: «I myself have received death threats, even with phone calls in the middle of the night. Added to this was the fury against us of the traders in the area », adds the owner. To calm the waters at least in part, the intervention of the lawyer Pietro Porciani who has various coordinators of Facebook and other social pages have been sued to stem the hate campaign which, continues Chiappini, “has drastically reduced the score of our hotel on the main booking platforms”. A few steps from Piazza Lima, the Demidoff has 43 rooms and inside it has kept some historical parts such as the staircase and the external friezes in Liberty style. “Many have come to say that we had destroyed the facade – underlines the property – in reality we have only changed the color”.
–
Even the accusations of fascism
At one point, completely unexpected. there are also “accusations of fascism”, again because of the black color: “If the situation were not dramatic it would be surreal. As if that weren’t enough, the most ferocious attacks came from one blogger that instead of supporting a female company has decided to rage against us together with an ecologist ». Despite the fear and bewilderment, the appreciations also arrived: “For many tourists – they say from the reception – the color of the Demidoff has become an attraction, so much so that positive comments on social networks and photos on Instagram are multiplying.”
–
The building built by the architect Egidio Corti
The hotel that until 1986 was called Pliniusfu cobstructed in the late 1920s by the architect Egidio Cortitaking advantage of a small plot that gave the building its characteristic “iron” shape. When it was first discovered in the 1980s, it was a one-star structure and it had only twenty rooms. Another precedent in Town Hall 3 for the coloring of a black / anthracite facade was the case of a building in via Farneti 8: after a collection of signatures from residents, in 2019, the manufacturer, albeit without constraints, backtracked and faded the color to light gray.
–
If you want to stay updated on news from Milan and Lombardy, subscribe for free to the Corriere Milano newsletter. It arrives every Saturday in your mailbox at 7am. Enough
click here.
–
March 16, 2022 (change March 16, 2022 | 08:04)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
–
—
