Italy

The Frescobaldi are recorded in the Florentine wine trade Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi

Giovanni di Piero Antinori joins the Arte Fiorentina dei Vinattieri — the Antinori wine business begins Marchesi Antinori

Villa San Michele is built at Fiesole, its façade attributed to Michelangelo

Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio builds the Villa d'Este at Cernobbio; it becomes a hotel in 1873

La Posta Vecchia is built at Ladispoli; J. Paul Getty restores it as his home in 1960

Villa Cetinale is built near Siena; it is let whole from 2000

Caffè Florian opens on the Piazza San Marco Caffè Florian

Caffè Gilli opens on via Calzaioli, Florence Caffè Gilli

Antico Caffè Greco opens on the via dei Condotti — the only café of its day admitting women Antico Caffè Greco

Giuseppe Dentis opens Al Bicerin facing the Consolata; the bicerin follows Al Bicerin

The Sanoner family begins at Ortisei; ADLER grows from the inn ADLER Spa Resorts

The Hotel de Russie opens on the Via del Babuino, its garden laid out by Valadier

Antonio Cova opens a literary café beside La Scala Cova

The Danieli opens in the Palazzo Dandolo, a fourteenth-century house on the Riva

Angelo Marchesi opens his pasticceria on via Santa Maria alla Porta, Milan Marchesi 1824

Villa Sant'Andrea is built at Taormina by an English family; it opens as a hotel in 1950

The Quisisana opens at Capri as a sanatorium; it becomes a hotel in 1861

The Venetian rising: Florian's rooms are turned into an infirmary for the wounded Caffè Florian

The Pizzinini family begins at San Cassiano; Rosa Alpina grows from the inn

The Villa Serbelloni opens as a hotel at Bellagio

Baratti and Milano open their confectionery on via Dora Grossa, Turin Baratti & Milano

Florian is restored into the six rooms that stand today Caffè Florian

Villa Cora is built in Florence for Baron Oppenheim

The Grand Hotel Timeo opens at Taormina below the Greek theatre

Giuseppe Mengoni's iron-and-glass Mercato Centrale opens at San Lorenzo, Florence Mercato Centrale Firenze

Caffè Gilli moves to its present Florence address Caffè Gilli

Villa Crespi is built at Orta in Moorish style for a cotton merchant

The Bauer opens in Venice under Julius Grünwald

Franz Peck opens a Prague-style salumeria on via Orefici, Milan Peck

The Hassler opens at the top of the Spanish Steps; the Wirth family holds it still

The Eden opens in Rome above the Spanish Steps

Peck becomes official supplier to the Italian Crown Peck

Villa Feltrinelli is built at Gargnano; Mussolini is held there in 1943

The Savoy opens in Florence on the Piazza della Repubblica

The Caruso opens at Ravello in the eleventh-century Palazzo d'Afflitto

The Lido Palace opens at Riva del Garda

Villa Cortine opens at Sirmione on Lake Garda

Villa Igiea is built at Palermo for the Florio family by Ernesto Basile

The Excelsior Palace opens at Rapallo on the Ligurian coast

The Cristallo opens at Cortina d'Ampezzo

The Splendido opens at Portofino in a sixteenth-century monastery

The Gambardella family opens Santa Caterina on the Amalfi coast

Marchesi 1824 / Cova — Milan maisons in their present form ⚑ Marchesi 1824

The Excelsior opens on the Venice Lido

The Grand Hotel Tremezzo opens on Lake Como

The Grand Hotel Tremezzo opens; the De Santis family takes it in 1975 Tremezzo Group

The Grand Hotel Palazzo della Fonte opens at Fiuggi

Caffè San Marco opens in Trieste on 3 January, months before the war Caffè San Marco

The Principe di Savoia opens in Milan on the Piazza della Repubblica

The Miramare opens at Santa Margherita Ligure

Giuseppe Cipriani opens Harry's Bar, Venice, on 13 May Harry's Bar, Venice

claimed Prince Umberto of Savoy grants Luigi Albanese a restaurateur's licence after he treats the prince's sea-urchin wound — Da Luigi ai Faraglioni begins Da Luigi ai Faraglioni

Gracie Fields buys Il Fortino on Marina Piccola for £11,000 — the fort where she had once stayed as a guest La Canzone del Mare

claimed Da Luigi ai Faraglioni opens on the rocks at Capri — the earliest verified beach club in the register ⚑ Italian sources date the licence to 1932 Da Luigi ai Faraglioni

Sant Ambroeus opens as a pasticceria beside La Scala Sant Ambroeus

The Principe di Piemonte opens at Viareggio

Villa La Massa opens on the Arno outside Florence in a Medici villa

The Gritti Palace opens in the sixteenth-century residence of Doge Andrea Gritti

Lucia Fiorentino and Peppino Arcucci build La Fontelina on the rocks at Capri La Fontelina

Cova moves to via Montenapoleone, into the future fashion quadrilateral Cova

Gracie Fields builds La Canzone del Mare on a former fort at Marina Piccola, with a pool cut in the shape of Capri La Canzone del Mare

Le Sirenuse opens at Positano, converted from the Sersale family's summer house

Giuseppe Cipriani begins the Hotel Cipriani on the Giudecca, financed by three Guinness sisters Belmond Hotel Cipriani

The Cantinetta Antinori opens in the family palazzo in Florence Cantinetta Antinori

The Bocca family opens the first Sina house in Italy Sina Hotels

Guests arrive at the Hotel Cipriani two years after work began on the Giudecca Belmond Hotel Cipriani

The Gardena Grödnerhof opens at Ortisei

The Capri Palace opens at Anacapri

Biki calls Aldo Coppola to do the hair for her show at Palazzo Pitti; the same year is given for the first layered cut Aldo Coppola

Il Pellicano opens at Porto Ercole, built by Patsy Daszel and Michael Graham

Il Pellicano opens at Porto Ercole; the Sciò family takes it in 1979 Pellicano Hotels

Hotel Cala di Volpe opens in July, built by Jacques Couëlle as a Mediterranean fishing village

La Scogliera opens on the rocks at Forte dei Marmi La Scogliera

Hotel Pitrizza and the Cervo Hotel open in August; Luigi Vietti's Porto Cervo village is completed

Hotel Romazzino opens in the summer, built by the Rank Organisation and later sold to the Aga Khan

Coppola opens his first atelier on Via Manzoni in Milan — ⚑ the company’s own home page dates itself to 1966 instead Aldo Coppola

Enrico and Bruna Cerea open Da Vittorio at Bergamo Da Vittorio

Carlo Cinque opens Il San Pietro on the cliff below Positano, with no sign at the door

Forte Village opens in southern Sardinia Forte Village Resort

Punta Tragara opens at Capri in a house built by Le Corbusier's client Emilio Vismara

Baglioni opens its first hotel in Florence Baglioni Hotels & Resorts

James Sherwood buys the Hotel Cipriani for £900,000 — the origin of Belmond Belmond Hotel Cipriani

Gracie Fields hands the Canzone del Mare restaurant to Luigi Iacono La Canzone del Mare

The Spy Who Loved Me is filmed at Cala di Volpe and fixes the Costa Smeralda in the popular imagination

Pio Galligani and Enrica del Rosso open Paper Moon on via Bagutta, Milan Paper Moon

John and Harry Mariani buy Castello Banfi at Montalcino Castello Banfi

John and Harry Mariani buy Castello Banfi at Montalcino

⚑ disputed Luigi “Puny” Miroli opens his own restaurant on the Portofino Piazzetta and gives it his mother’s name for him — ⚑ the date is given as 1980 by the house, as some years after 1976 by his obituary, and as 1958 by a restaurant guide Ristorante Puny

Luigi Miroli opens Puny on the Portofino piazzetta Ristorante Puny

Starhotels is founded in Florence by the Fratini family Starhotels Collezione

Aldo Coppola Jr sets the corporate philosophy: owned salons, franchising, the first Italian freelance hair and make-up agency, an academy and a product line Aldo Coppola

Peck opens eighteen shops in Japan with Takashimaya Peck

The Muntoni family opens the first Delphina house in Gallura Delphina hotels & resorts

Ferruccio Ferragamo buys the Il Borro estate in the Valdarno Il Borro Tuscan Bistro

The Aga Khan's Italian company loses control of CIGA; Sheraton takes over Cala di Volpe

ITT takes 70% of CIGA and builds The Luxury Collection out of a group of European palaces part-owned by the Aga Khan CIGA — Compagnia Italiana Grandi Alberghi

Guido Lembo opens Taverna Anema e Core on Capri with no dress code Taverna Anema e Core

The Ferragamo family opens the Lungarno in Florence Lungarno Collection

The Palazzo Sasso reopens at Ravello; it takes the Avino name in 2013

Flavio Briatore opens the Billionaire Club at Porto Cervo Billionaire

Palazzo Versace opens on the Gold Coast — the first fashion-branded hotel in the world Palazzo Versace

VOIhotels forms as the Alpitour hotel arm VOIhotels

Count Benedikt Bolza begins restoring Castello di Reschio in Umbria; the hotel opens in 2021

Flavio Briatore opens Twiga at Forte dei Marmi Twiga

Marriott partners with Bulgari to create Bulgari Hotels & Resorts; the second house is announced for Bali Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts

Jeanette Thottrup opens Borgo Santo Pietro in a thirteenth-century Tuscan farmhouse

Roberto Cavalli opens his first café-store in Florence, then Just Cavalli at Torre Branca JustMe Milano

Starwood sells the four hotels, the Porto Cervo marina, the Pevero golf club and 6,000 acres to Colony Capital for €290m on 19 June

Duetorrihotels forms around the Due Torri in Verona Duetorrihotels

Ori Kafri opens the first JK Place in Capri J.K. Place

Palazzo Manfredi opens facing the Colosseum

Vigilius opens above Lana, reachable only by cable car

L'Andana opens in Tuscany on a Grand Ducal estate

Bulgari Residences launch alongside the hotels Bvlgari Residences

Bulgari opens its first hotel in Milan with Ritz-Carlton Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts

Roberto Naldi assembles his Roman and Swiss houses into a collection Roberto Naldi Collection

Casa Angelina opens at Praiano on the Amalfi coast

Giorgio Armani and Emaar sign for at least seven hotels and three resorts — the first partnership of the fashion house with a property developer Armani Hotels & Resorts

The Ferragamo family opens Portrait Suites in Rome Portrait Hotels

Rezidor signs a worldwide licence with Missoni, aiming at thirty hotels in a decade Missoni Hotels

Langosteria opens on via Savona, Milan Langosteria

Ca' Sagredo opens in a fifteenth-century Venetian palace

John Phillips restores Borgo Finocchieto in Tuscany over eight years

Oscar Farinetti opens the first Eataly in a closed vermouth factory in Turin, with a cooking school inside the shop Eataly

Alcide Leali opens the first Lefay resort on Lake Garda Lefay Resorts & Residences

Four Seasons opens in Florence in the Palazzo della Gherardesca with the largest private garden in the city

Missoni opens its first hotel in Edinburgh with Rezidor Missoni Hotels

Hotel Missoni Edinburgh opens, the first of the two that were built Missoni Hotels

Armani opens its first hotel in the Burj Khalifa, designed throughout by Giorgio Armani Armani Hotels & Resorts

Aldo Melpignano opens Borgo Egnazia in Puglia, built as an Apulian village

Il Salviatino opens at Fiesole in a fifteenth-century villa

Villa Treville opens at Positano in Franco Zeffirelli's house

The first Armani Hotel opens in the Burj Khalifa on 27 April, with 160 rooms and 144 Armani-designed apartments above it Armani Hotels & Resorts

Armani Residences launch with the Burj Khalifa Armani Residences

Armani Hotel Milano opens on via Manzoni in a 1937 rationalist building by Enrico Griffini Armani Hotels & Resorts

Cipriani family sidelined by creditors; Harry's Bar passes to Blue Skye Harry's Bar, Venice

Antinori nel Chianti Classico opens, the winery buried in its own hillside Marchesi Antinori

The Fiermontino family opens La Fiermontina at Lecce La Fiermontina Family Collection

Monastero Santa Rosa opens on the Amalfi coast in a seventeenth-century convent

Rosewood opens Castiglion del Bosco, Massimo Ferragamo's Montalcino estate

Niko Romito takes three stars at Reale Niko Romito

Aman opens in the Palazzo Papadopoli on the Grand Canal

Rezidor and Missoni terminate the worldwide Master Licence Agreement on 31 December; the hotels leave the marks by 30 June 2014 and carry on under other names Missoni Hotels

LVMH acquires 80% of Cova for a reported €33m, outbidding Prada Peck

The Marzotto family buys Peck Peck

Prada acquires 80% of Marchesi 1824 in reply Marchesi 1824

UNA Esperienze is created as the upper tier of the UNA group UNA Esperienze

R Collection forms around a group of Italian lake and mountain houses R Collection Hotels

The Contreras family opens Il Sereno on Lake Como, designed by Patricia Urquiola

Niko Romito becomes sole culinary author of Bvlgari Hotels Niko Romito

Emerald Collection opens in the Maldives Emerald Collection

The Il Borro Tuscan Bistro concept is exported for the first time, to Dubai Il Borro Tuscan Bistro

Luigi Miroli dies; his son Andrea takes the restaurant Ristorante Puny

Archive (Ruffini) takes 40% of Langosteria Langosteria

Eight Hotels forms in Italy Eight Hotels

Gucci Osteria opens in Florence with Massimo Bottura, out of the Gucci Garden installation Gucci Osteria & Giardino 25

Shedir Collection opens its first Italian house Shedir Collection

The St. Regis opens on the Grand Canal at Venice

Forestis opens above Bressanone on the Plose

Gucci Osteria Florence takes a Michelin star under Karime Lopez Gucci Osteria & Giardino 25

SA Hospitality buys back Sant Ambroeus's original Milan address Sant Ambroeus

Il Borro Tuscan Bistro opens on Berkeley Street, London, on 12 November Il Borro Tuscan Bistro

Palazzo Fiuggi reopens as a medical retreat on 21 June after a €30m rebuild Palazzo Fiuggi programme

Casa Cipriani opens in the Battery Maritime Building, New York

Il Tornabuoni opens in Florence in a fifteenth-century palazzo

The De Santis family opens Passalacqua at Moltrasio on Lake Como

Borgo Santandrea opens on the Amalfi cliffs, rebuilt from a 1960s hotel

Gucci Osteria Seoul opens on 28 March, the fourth house Gucci Osteria & Giardino 25

The Plein Hotel opens in Milan

Billionaire Porto Cervo is rebranded Twiga Porto Cervo Billionaire

Just Cavalli Milano reopens as JustMe under new management JustMe Milano

Langosteria's parent restructured as Buonocore Hospitality Group in spring Langosteria

After Giorgio Armani’s death the group signs a worldwide exclusive joint venture with Mohamed Alabbar’s Symphony Global — twenty years, plus ten Armani Hotels & Resorts