An important piece in the history of tourism on the Romagna Riviera, the Ricci Hotels in Cesenatico are 70 years old.
There are five Ricci hotels
It all started in 1954 with grandfather Augusto Ricci when the Adriatic Riviera was still undiscovered, and he bought the La Sportiva Guesthouse. Today the group has five properties, four of which are near the sea: the Sport, Valverde, Nettuno and Villa Mia hotels. Then there is the country farm house Podere la Fattoria di Canonica in Sant'Arcangelo di Romagna.
The original Sporting Hotel was enlarged
Augusto’s grandchildren Giuseppe and Clemente Ricci now own the company. “Granpa was good with people, attracting many pioneering tourists who were beginning to discover the Adriatic. Those were the years of the Dolce Vita and there was a desire to be together as one big family, indeed many of his guests returned year after year.” In 1972, the baton was passed to Giancarlo and Marisa Ricci who enlarged the property, now the Hotel Sport, to 50 rooms, and it was the first in Cesenatico to have a large swimming pool. They also invented out-of-town trips, renting a castle in the Romagna hills to give tourists different experiences based on food and good wine.
Ricci family 1954
Constant expansion and renovations
In 1979 Giancarlo and Marisa also bought the Valverde Hotel, a historic seafront property, to which they added the first outdoor squash court and the largest swimming pool in Cesenatico. It went on to become the large complex known as the Valverde Hotel & Residence, while the Sport was also expanded to 100 rooms and apartments. Another lucky purchase in 2010 was the Hotel Nettuno which was then totally renovated in the style of Hamptons’ summer homes.
The fourth generation
“It has been a long road of continuous extensions, renovations and new services to keep up with the times and anticipate customers‘ desires,” says Giancarlo Ricci. The Ricci family is now ready to take on a major new challenge. “We have taken over the abandoned Santa Monica Colony which has a 3,000-metre private beach,” say Giuseppe and Clemente Ricci. The new private Ricci Beach has a gym, new cabins, a beach volleyball-beach tennis court, and the Ricci family continues its contemporary journey in hospitality: “As our five children prepare for the fourth generation, we try to express the same sense of hospitality as our origins, making our guests feel part of the family.”
For information: https://www.riccihotels.it
