Board meetings, presentations, private dinners, cocktail receptions, fashion shows and weddings can be organized here for 20 to 150 guests. The Grand Hotel et de Milan stands on Via Manzoni in central Milan, where Via Montenapoleone begins, 674 steps from the Teatro alla Scala.
Seminars and company events
The hotel turns its historic rooms into meeting and event spaces to suit each brief. High-level meetings take place in the Verdi Lounge, the former apartment of the composer, and larger presentations in the Puccini Lounge, which seats 100 theater style. The team also stages fashion shoots on the wrought iron spiral staircase that climbs through five floors, and can arrange a branded pop-up in the Caruso Nuovo Bistrot facing Via Montenapoleone. Fashion week shows have used the Giordano Lounge as a catwalk.
Weddings and receptions
The hotel has hosted society weddings and celebrations for more than 150 years, and its own wedding planners organize the day. The Puccini and Giordano salons, both with private entrances and linked by a marble corridor, work for a candlelit dinner and a dance. Cocktail receptions can be held at Gerry's Bar, by its fireplace of Duomo marble, or in the lounge.
Rooms and capacities
The Puccini Lounge measures 105 square meters (14 by 7.6 m, 4.45 m high). It takes 100 theater style, 40 in a U-shape or at a long table, 64 to 80 at round tables and 150 for a cocktail. It is hung with paintings from the collection of Marie Louise of Austria. The Giordano Lounge, 62 square meters (11.7 by 5.5 m, 4.65 m high), takes 40 theater style, 20 in a U-shape, 24 to 26 at a long table, 24 to 40 at round tables and 70 for a cocktail. The Verdi Lounge, 51 square meters with daylight and a 4.5 m ceiling, takes 30 theater style, 20 to 22 at a long table, 18 to 24 at round tables and 40 for a cocktail. The Don Carlos restaurant can be combined with the wine cellars below, and the Caruso Nuovo Bistrot has a winter garden and a terrace for private lunches and dinners.
Accommodation
The hotel has 72 rooms and 23 suites and junior suites, 95 in all, no two alike. The Presidential Suite is named for Giuseppe Verdi, and twelve more suites are dedicated to artists who stayed here, from Caruso to Visconti.
Catering
Food is prepared in-house. Don Carlos serves fine dining inspired by Verdi, Caruso Nuovo Bistrot has a veranda and an outdoor terrace, and Gerry's Bar handles cocktails.
History and setting
The hotel opened on May 23, 1863, and was the first in Milan to offer postal and telegraph services. Verdi lived here for 27 years and greeted the crowd from his balcony after the premiere of Otello in 1887. Enrico Caruso made his first recording in room 306, and Maria Callas, Rudolf Nureyev and Tamara de Lempicka were regular guests. A renovation in 1993 uncovered part of the Roman city wall built under Emperor Maximian, still visible in the Don Carlos wine cellars. The Bertazzoni family has run the hotel for three generations, and it belongs to The Leading Hotels of the World.
Getting there
The Montenapoleone stop on metro line M3 is a few steps away, and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and the Duomo are a short walk south. Milano Centrale station is a few metro stops away, and Linate and Malpensa airports serve the city.
