On the shores of Lake Caldaro in South Tirol, the striking Seehotel Ambach has barely changed since 1973 – and is all the better for it
hen I was about seven years old, my aunt brought me back a souvenir from her trip to America – a yellow trouser suit with yellow-and-purple zigzag-patterned flared trousers. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen and, 50 years later, as I walk into the, I can’t help thinking how it’s just the kind of look I should be rocking in the 1970s lobby.We are greeted by a riot of yellow and orange and a selection of the Italian design industry’s greatest hits from the 70s byand others.
Seehotel Ambach was opened in 1973 by Anna Ambach, who continued to live in the hotel’s main suite until her death in 2014. Her nephew, Klaus Maran, inherited the hotel and runs it with his family today. They recount how architect Othmar Barth’s radical design for the hotel shook up the local scene and how Ambach fought for it to be built. In protest, the local mayor refused to grant occupancy permission after the building was completed.
In recent years, the family has brought the hotel up to date. Elements that could be restored were preserved or updated, so, while the bathrooms have had a complete overhaul, the bedrooms are still largely the same as they were in 1973 with minor alterations to fit the modern traveller . Most of the lamps, furnishings and design objects have been there from the beginning, with a few items carefully sourced and added later.
Once you’ve walked through the lobby and exited the hotel on the other side you are met by breathtaking views of the lake set against the backdrop of the Tirolean mountains. Set in 11,000 square metres of parkland, where you pitch your sunlounger is up to you and there are plenty of trees, including ancient willows and birches, to pitch under.
Lake Caldaro, the largest and warmest in South Tirol, and about 30 minutes’ drive from the city of Bolzano, is an important natural habitat for birds and amphibians, and as you lie on your lounger, you’re likely to be sharing the surroundings with a gaggle of geese or a family of ducks. I imagine they, too, have been there for half a century. As the Eagles put it, Seehotel Ambach is “such a lovely place, Such a lovely place”.
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