Time travel

With the suppression of the ecclesiastical property in 1866, the foundation of the Royal Forestry Institute in Vallombrosa in 1867-69 and the transfer of ownership of the Vallombrosa estate to the Forestry Administration, the small building overlooking the Abbey that the monks used as a guesthouse remained as such, and its first tenant became Massimiliano Gai di Tosi in May 1870. Massimiliano built at his own expense a new room on the ground floor to be used as warehouse and three bedrooms upstairs.
In the same period they opened tavern with the curious name of "La Luna", probably because the building had a "C" shape. This property was able to accommodate not only occasional travelers and those who could not find hospitality in the Forestry Institute, but also tourists, especially foreigners, who wanted to "get some fresh air"

View from the "Paradisino" of the Hotel La Croce di Savoja in 1885

In 1873 the Foresteria of Vallombrosa was rented by Luigi Chelazzi until 1876 when, as the first lease of the guesthouse had expired, it was rented again for a six-year term to Teresa Chelazzi (from the same family) with the obligation to restore and continue the works of renovation. The Foresteria became 6 bedrooms larger. Meanwhile, the name of "La Luna" was changed to the more appropriate "Albergo di Vallombrosa".
In 1881, the lease expired again and the Forestry Administration proceeded with a new twelve-year rental with the intention of creating a real hotel starting from the old structure. With the contract dated 6th of March 1881, Giovanni Bartolucci of San Miniato al Tedesco (during that time the village was under the province of Florence), who had already been a hotelier at the Hotel Central Firenze in Via Condotta, took over the place with the task of carrying out the extension works. A facade was created, and that lead to the loss of the characteristic horseshoe shape. In that same year the property was renamed by Bartolucci "Albergo La Croce di Savoia".
Thanks to these changes, the range of hotels in the area was considerably improved: the old "Albergo di Vallombrosa" gave way to a more comfortable property. The sign on the south-east facade that states "The Cross of Savoy Hotel" is a proof of the variety of the guests from all over the world visiting Vallombrosa already at the time. The old guesthouse had become a nice hotel which, due to the its "many rooms, small quarters for families, a reading room, two beautiful and spacious dining rooms, billiards and bathrooms" had nothing to envy to the most renowned hotels in the Alps.
Meanwhile in 1882, near the Abbey on what had once been a furnace and ice deposit, another building was built to be used as an inn and was called Villino Medici, in honor of the Italian patriot and General of the Renaissance Giacomo Medici. In 1908 the "inn", already a branch of the hotel, became the Villino Restaurant and was managed uninterruptedly until recent times by the Cerchiarini family, already employed by the monks as greengrocers of the Abbey since the 1700s. By the end of 1883, Bartolucci entrusted the management of the hotel to Prof. Paul Lansky, a German poet who had a strong friendship with the philosopher, philologist and essayist Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche mentions several times Vallombrosa in their correspondence : "He is co-owner(Lansky) of the hotel (guesthouse) in Vallombrosa - so my philosophy will end up making itself "a nest" even in this beautiful cozy corner. I will certainly spend part of next year there, in the Paradisino, far from the hotel itself, a sort of hermitage: the invitation is there. It's an extraordinary coincidence: last year I worked so hard for this Vallombrosa - and if you can guess a little bit of what's in my head in this idea, you'll also realize how destiny is meeting me halfway". His stay in Vallombrosa did not happen and for several reasons Nietzsche moved from Florence to Nice.
Having the "Vallombrosa of the monks" disappeared, a different story of Vallombrosa began, made up of hotels and villas, populated "by people in the beginning of the suffocating colors of the plain" who then "returned to the city when the first breezes announcing winter were felt".
In the summer of 1890, Count Giuseppe Telfener decided to come to Vallombrosa, recommended to him as a "pleasant", "healthy and cool" place, as he wanted to take some time on holiday but was not able to go too far from Rome for work reasons. This was when the Hotel Croce di Savoja hosted the man who, with the construction of the cog railway, transformed hotels and cottages, Saltino and Vallombrosa into the most sought-after holiday resort in central Italy.

The Hotel La Croce in Savoja in 1895

In 1897 a curious lawsuit was filed over the ownership of the name "Croce di Savoia" which, after a long-standing dispute, saw this name transferred to the new structure ln Saltino which in the meantime had passed from the Bartolucci heirs to the Florentine antiquarian Vincenzo Ciampolini, owner of hotels and cottages in Saltino. The hotel continued to improve and the new works of 1895-96 saw the creation of 83 bedrooms.
When the concession expired, in 1908 Vincenzo Ciampolini was the new tenant of the Hotel La Foresta, now called "Albergo Demaniale", of its coveted branch of the "Paradisino" and of the Vallombrosa pool and icehouse. Paul Lansky remains its Director. He does his job very well and is well-liked by society for his sophistication and culture. Also in those years, new works were carried out modernization and enlargement of the Hotel La Foresta, allowing the increase in the number of rooms available to holidaymakers.
Tenant of the Hotel La Foresta, now called "Albergo Derilaniale", of its coveted branch of the "Paradisino" and of the Vallombrosa pool and icebox. Paul Lansky remains its Director. He does his job very well and is well-liked by society for his sophistication and culture. Also in those years, new works were carried out.
The year 1915 was the last year in which Paolo Lanski became director of the hotels in Vallombrosa on behalf of Ciampolini. From 1916 he will be Attilio Della Torre, former administrator and representative of Ciampolini for all the hotels and villas owned by the Florentine antiquarian at Saltino.

The State Hotel La Foresta during the First World War

In 1921, at the end of the lease, a new public auction was announced, from which Cav. Giulio Chioffi was the winner.
Together with his wife Rina, Chioffi managed with great elegance and professionalism, the Hotel La Foresta, the Hotel Paradisino, for a short time, the Grand Hotel del Lago until 1943. During the war he was also secretary of the Fascia di Vallombrosa. Intelligent, cultured and refined people, immediately after the end of the war, in 1945, restarted the management of the Hotel La Foresta, which they ran until the end of the summer season of 1970, when the business was closed for good. An illustrious example of elegance, Cav. Chioffi said goodbye to his work in Vallombrosa but above all to the guests w o had esteemed and appreciated him in his half century of activity with an equally refined message worthy of a hotelier of other times:
It is with the greatest sorrow that I communicate to the LL. SS. that I had to leave my hotel business, after 50 years of passionate work. How I loved my job! How fond I had grown of my good Gentlemen Customers! I identified myself with them, in order to always improve our service, to make them feel like they were in a corner of their home. I will remember them with affectionate devotion, until the Lord says that I have finished my poor earthly journey.
Most Humble Servant Of Them
Giulio Chiotti

The Hotel in the late 1920s

Since 1971the structure will host for a short period the students of the Faculty of Forestry Sciences during summer exercises and the Rustic Furniture Exhibition organized by Tosi's furniture makers which was a good success until the 90s.
In 2002 the hotel, completely restored, was reopened by the Vallombrosan Monks who kept it in business until 2014.
In July 2023 the current owner, after new restoration and renovation works, reopened the hotel under the name "Rifugio La Foresta".
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Text and photographs by Duccio Baldassini