Il Pellicano

Michael Graham, a British pilot, and Patricia Daszel, an American, met at Pelican Point in California and named the house they built above the sea at Porto Ercole after it. Il Pellicano opened in 1965 as a handful of cottages among the pines and olives on the eastern slope of Monte Argentario, in southern Tuscany, with a pool on the rocks and friends for guests.

History

The founders ran the hotel as an extension of their own social life, and it drew a crowd that Slim Aarons photographed in 1973 in pictures that still define the place: the pool, the striped umbrellas, the rocks, the sea. Roberto Sciò bought Il Pellicano in 1979 and rebuilt its fortunes, and his daughter Marie-Louise Sciò, who grew up in the hotel, now leads the family company, Pellicano Hotels, as its chief executive and creative director. She commissioned the photographer Juergen Teller to shoot the hotel for a book that paired his pictures with the Aarons archive, and has since added La Posta Vecchia, near Rome, and Mezzatorre on Ischia to the group. The restaurant won two Michelin stars under Antonio Guida before his move to Milan in 2015, and holds one star under Michelino Gioia.

Architecture and design

The hotel is a scatter of terracotta-roofed cottages on a slope of Mediterranean garden, linked by paths under umbrella pines, bougainvillea and rosemary. There is no grand building; the main house holds the restaurant, the bar and a sitting room, and everything else looks out to sea. Marie-Louise Sciò's redesign kept the 1960s informality and added stripes, rattan, ceramics and a palette of blue, white and terracotta that has been copied across the Mediterranean since. Below the garden, a heated saltwater pool sits on the rocks, and wooden decks and ladders drop into the sea.

Rooms and suites

Rooms and suites are spread between the main house and the cottages in the garden, with terraces or small gardens of their own and views across the water towards the Tuscan coast. The cottage rooms are the most private; the suites have sitting rooms and larger terraces. Floors are tiled, walls are white, and the decoration is restrained by the standards of the Italian coast.

Dining

Il Pellicano, the main restaurant, holds a Michelin star under Michelino Gioia and serves a Tuscan and Mediterranean menu on a terrace above the sea. Pelligrill, beside the pool, grills fish and vegetables at lunch and takes over as a second dinner option in high summer. The bar on the terrace is the hotel's living room from late afternoon onwards.

Wellness

The spa has treatment rooms and a small gym, and the heated saltwater pool and sea deck serve as the daytime centre of the hotel. There are tennis courts in the grounds, and boats can be arranged for the day to the islands of Giglio and Giannutri.

Weddings and events

Il Pellicano hosts small weddings and private dinners on its sea-facing terraces, and the whole hotel can be taken for a wedding party or a company retreat. Its size and the slope of the site rule out large receptions; events are planned as house parties.

Location

Porto Ercole is on Monte Argentario, the promontory joined to the Tuscan mainland by two sandbars that enclose the Orbetello lagoon. The hotel is a few kilometres from the village along the coast road. Rome Fiumicino airport is about ninety minutes to two hours by car; Orbetello-Monte Argentario is the nearest railway station, on the Rome to Pisa line. Ferries to Giglio leave from Porto Santo Stefano on the other side of the promontory. As a luxury hotel in Tuscany on the sea rather than in the hills, Il Pellicano has little competition.