winters in Italy<\/a>. As much as I love Italy any time of year, winter is not my favorite season. I suppose I was recalling a December in Bologna that was a full month of cold, damp, dark dreariness. No thanks.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nThen I received an email from a PR company announcing a client\u2019s latest project, and all of a sudden my mind started considering other scenarios where a blanket of new snow covering a mountain lodge might be just the sort of thing that could sway my opinion. In fact, I\u2019m fantasizing right now about going to this Italian winter destination, as if it just climbed out of a storybook (“Frozen,” anyone?).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I do get a lot of these press releases, but I only share them here on my blog when the inspiration strikes. And no, I don\u2019t get paid to promote any one business, but I think we can all do our small part to support the tourism industry in general; more specifically in Italy, in the case of my website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italian Winter Destinations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
This place, called Villa La Fenice, seems to have it all. Skiing, spa services, indoor swimming pool; you name it. The name is interesting because, ironically, this phoenix didn\u2019t arise from the ashes\u2026 but rather from the confluence of two catastrophic avalanches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So without further ado, I\u2019m copying the press release below. But if I\u2019m being totally honest, it\u2019s the photos that made me stop scrolling as I went through my emails this morning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you want the full HD panoramic view, go to the webpage: LA FENICE DEL MONTE CERVINO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nEnjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nTHE PHOENIX OF THE MATTERHORN IS REBORN IN CERVINIA.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nA PRESTIGIOUS INTERIOR REALIZATION BY CONCRETA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nVilla Bacchini, this is its original name, was one of the few villas built in the Cervinia area since the 1930s and was destroyed in 1980 by the confluence of two avalanches. Following this event, the Valle d’Aosta Autonomous Region arranged several interventions, which offered the possibility of protecting the area and rebuilding the villa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The owners at that time, the Bacchini family, chose not to start with the reconstruction and sold what remained of the structure to the Harrison family of London, who bought it to restore the house to its former glory. The exterior of the villa was protected and the reconstruction project – followed by Architect Mariapia Bettiol\u2019s Studio from Aosta in collaboration with the interior contractor CONCRETA from Valtellina – necessarily had to take this aspect into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Engineer Bacchini – the inventor of the famous Allocchio-Bacchini radio, which had known great success in the golden years of the radio – had built the villa in 1936, having the materials transported on the back of a mule, as at the time only a mule track connected the building to the road system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was no problem for the Harrison family to rebuild the villa as it was. The new owners were literally fascinated by the old photos reproducing its fa\u00e7ade as well as also the famous gardens that surrounded it and which had aroused great interest among Cervinia\u2019s visitors, including Maria Jos\u00e8 Savoia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n