Segantini 01: Hotel Pianta

Segantini's arrival in Savognin

"On a summer day in 1886, a rather questionable-looking one-horse horse stopped in front of the Hotel Pianta in Savognin. Soon a lean, dark-haired, long-bearded man of about twenty-eight years of age and a blond graceful woman, a few years younger, alighted from the carriage. The strangers [...] were simply dressed and appeared modest and sympathetic. But there seemed to be something strange, unusual in her nature [...]. Finally it came out: the man was a painter from Milan named Segantini and the blonde young woman was his partner. [...] Mr. Segantini asked Mr. Pianta if he could not take up residence in the hotel with his family for a longer period of time. […] So Segantini stayed with his wife for some time in the Hotel Pianta, [...] then went to fetch the children – because he now wanted to stay in Savognin permanently."

From «Giovanni Segantini – Sein Leben und sein Werk», Franz Servaes, Klinkhardt und Biermann, Leipzig 1916

The hotel and the Pianta family

Domenico Pianta came to Savognin from Poschiavo around 1840 as a policeman. In 1870 he dared to build the new Hotel Pianta. Three of his five children became hoteliers. Victor and Anton Pianta were the second generation to run the Hotel Pianta. Alfons Pianta became co-owner of the Grand Hotel in Venice, the most magnificent and modern hotel in Venice at the time. Until 2021, Clarita Klee-Pianta ran the Hotel Pianta Danilo in the fifth generation. At the moment, the Hotel Pianta is currently closed and is in a deep sleep.

Listen to the audio of Giovanni Segantini in Savognin. The audio file can be found at the back of the pictures. (Narrated by: Gian Rupf).