Hotel Paradiso

Transart 14, Hotel Paradiso, Martelltal, Südtirol, Italien

Sitting at 2,160 meters above sea level, beyond the lake at the end of the beautiful Martello Valley, are the fascinating red ruins of the former luxury hotel Paradiso, or the Hotel Albergo Sportivo Valmartello al Paradiso del Cevedale, as it was formerly known. Nestling amongst pine trees and larches and surrounded by high mountains this ruin has a mystical air of paradise to it. Hotel Paradiso was built between 1933 and 1935 by a limited company headed by Colonel Emilio Penatti and Milanese star architect Gio Ponti. The inhabitants of the Martello Valley were never able to warm to this modern building and in architectural terms it remained for the valley dwellers what they called a “Schupf” (garage). The heyday of the Hotel Paradiso in the Martello Valley was not to last long and already came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of World War II. Today the luxury hotel ruin stands like an enormous yet silent loudspeaker at the end of the Martello Valley. This uncanny statement of rationalist architecture amidst a wild natural landscape prompted composer Benedict Mason to reflect afresh on the relationship between nature and art and between nature and music. The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation will be supporting the composition commission for “Orchestra, Singers, Actors, Waiters and Climbers”. 

September 13-14, 2014
Hotel Paradiso, Martello Valley, South Tyrol, Italy 

Further Information:
www.transart.it