The Empress Elisabeth of Austria was an enthusiastic traveller, and you’ll find walking trails and lookouts throughout Europe dedicated to her. She’s left her mark on many mountain trails of the Italian Alps, and in Val d’Ega, Carezza, there are quite a few. Even though she was quite fanatical about keeping fit, she suffered from various ailments, so travel was encouraged by her personal physician. Sissi, as she was affectionately known, famously commandeered the Grand Hotel in Carezza in order to enjoy a ‘wellness retreat’. Given her love for hiking and hunting, she spent a lot of her time roaming the adjacent forests.
The Grand Hotel Carezza is the setting for Romy’s personal ‘wellness retreat’ in The Gifts, but she’s less than enthusiastic about spending time there than was Sissi. The Grand Hotel Carezza hosted many famous (and infamous) characters over the centuries, and though it’s often likened to the terrifying hotel of The Shining – especially when it’s surrounded by deep snow – the film was certainly not filmed at the hotel.
Agatha Christie stayed there as well. Some people claim that she hid out there when she mysteriously disappeared for a short time, creating her own real-life mystery for others to solve.
Churchill spent time there painting watercolours, and Sigmund Freud was also a guest.
If you’re interested in learning more of the fascinating history of The Grand Hotel Carezza, I highly recommend this site:
