GRAND HOTEL SITEA

A Grand Hotel in the centre of Turin

Elegance, cordiality and discretion have been the philosophy and reputation of the Grand Hotel Sitea, a hotel in the heart of Risorgimento Turin, which has been a member of the Associazione Locali Storici d’Italia since 2001.

The year was 1925, in fact, when Emiliano Lera acquired the building at 35 Via Carlo Alberto: an early 20th-century construction already used as a hotel owned by the Società Italiana Terme e Alberghi, and from whose acronym – S.I.T.E.A – the hotel took its name.
Since then, the Grand Hotel Sitea has witnessed the events and chronicles that have characterised three quarters of the city’s life between the 20th and 21st centuries, starting in 1935, when the first illustrious guest was recorded: Louis Armstrong, called by impresario Alfredo Antonino to play at Turin’s Teatro Chiarella (now the Metropol cinema). On 16 December 1944, Sitea was requisitioned by the R.A.P. (Anti-Partisan Units) and normal activity was interrupted until May the following year.

This is the only time the hotel is closed; we then have to wait until the year 2020 when, again for reasons of force majeure this time related to the health emergency, Sitea finds itself closed for a few weeks.

In the early 1950s, the reins of the Grand Hotel passed to Comm. Giuseppe, Emiliano’s son, who continues the family tradition by introducing improvements and adaptations that contribute to making the hotel a landmark for those passing through the city. The third generational transition brought GHS into the hands of Giulio and Maria Clotilde Lera.

The philosophy remains the same, aiming at continuous extensions and technological solutions to keep pace with the evolution of a city, such as Turin, protagonist of Italy’s economic, industrial and cultural growth. The last generational transition took place in the 2000s, when the brothers Federico and Niccolò Buratti-Lera, Maria Clotilde’s sons, took over the helm. While continuing in full respect of the line traced until then, they saw in the group possibilities for further development, linked both to the restaurant offer and to the expansion of the offer in luxury hospitality.

With this in mind, the various initiatives include in 2017 the opening to the public of the Carignano restaurant, which has always only catered to in-house customers and was immediately awarded a prestigious Michelin star, and in 2019 the acquisition of the 18th-century Palazzo Luserna where, after the painstaking renovation and restoration work required for a historic building protected by the fine arts, six 5-star luxury suites are being fitted out.

As testimony to these one hundred years, a rich guest book collects the signatures and dedications of artists, politicians, sportspeople, representatives of high finance and culture, who with great affection leave traces of their passage, making Sitea the backstage of the city’s cultural and social life.
But the story is not over, and to find out how it continues, all you have to do is visit us… and leave a signature!