VillaVerde

Design hotel or vacation apartment? Table-laying in a restaurant or stirring the pots yourself? Well, why not a mixture of everything? That’s what Heidi and her daughters Judith and Paula thought, and so created the completely relaxed and yet elegant and enchanting VillaVerde near Merano. A place for freedom-loving aesthetes—those who are more than happy to enjoy the amenities of a 4-star hotel (fortunately, without all the glitz and glamour), but who sometimes just feel like having a homemade cheese sandwich on the balcony. VillaVerde has 35 apartments and rooms, spread over two buildings: A 100-year-old villa which was getting on a bit, but has now regained its old grandeur thanks to a lot of passionate dedication inside and out. Actually, it’s much more beautiful than it used to be with its pale green shutters and conservatory, where a café is now housed. Excellent coffee and cakes are served here, and the view of the mountains is second to none. The historic villa has also been joined by a new neighbor—a modern, semicircular wooden building with outdoor pool, natural bathing pond and spa area. In the apartments, nostalgia is beautifully married with modernity: Handmade furniture and design classics combine with specially selected vintage pieces from antique stores and flea markets, giving each room that certain personal and charming touch. VillaVerde conveys a real feeling of home and is a wonderful new addition to the ranks of South Tyrolean design hotels. 

WHAT WE LIKE MOST:

• It’s the total package—art nouveau, modern wooden building, beautiful design and an environment with wow-factor.
• The concept of the hotelier family—being different is celebrated, the spontaneous, the unplanned.
• The details of the old villa—beautiful old parquet floor, high windows, the coffee house in the winter garden, the four-meter tall fireside lounge with library, the tower
• Each apartment in the new building has its own garden or terrace.
• The beautiful spa area—there’s a 20-meter-long heated outdoor pool, three relaxation rooms, three saunas and a 13-meter-long natural bathing pond with a wooden walkway in the middle of the park.
• A great setting-off point for excursions and hikes; here you quickly lose your heart to the Merano countryside. 

GOOD TO KNOW:

• Oh my god, the breakfast—again and again the breakfast bakers come up with something new: Cakes, waffles, jams, mueslis, vegan options. All ingredients come from dairies, farms and beekeepers from the region.
• In the coffee house “Feeling” (with a real Viennese coffee house feeling) you can make yourself comfortable with excellent coffee (so important!) and cake.
• The architect and interior designer Christina Biasi von Berg, who is co-responsible for several other dream hotels in South Tyrol, designed and realized the VillaVerde together with the hotelier family and her team from Biquadra.
• All apartments are equipped with a kitchenette so you can cook up your own dinner and enjoy it on the terrace or in the garden. 
• Aperitifs in the evening on the terrace or in the fireside lounge—how wonderful!
• There’s a lockable bike depot and ski lockers with integrated ski boot dryer.
• The center of Merano is 1.8 kilometers away. You can get there on foot, by bike, by bus (stops right in front of the hotel) or you can rent an e-bike.
•  The village of Algund also has a lot to offer, e.g. the Algunder Waalweg, which leads through a beautiful wine-growing landscape, and the two retro-lifts, with which you can comfortably float to Velar and up to the Leiter Alm.
• Bolzano is about 30 km away

Cin: IT021038B4B4YWISFF
Cin: IT021038B4FJGDZSR9

Photos: 1-6, 10-13, 17, 19-24, 26 Franziska Unterholzner; 7, 8 Stefano Scatà; 14-16, 18, 25 Tiberio Sorvillo