Salone Hofer (Madonna di Campiglio, Italy)
Salone Hofer
The Grand Hotel Des Alpes is an old Alpine establishment and houses the prestigious Salone Hofer named after the Liberty style paintings it contains by Gottfried Hofer. The large canvas on the entrance wall, based on a purely imaginative subject, depicts young shepherds that once inhabited these places paying homage to a gentle, modest Madonna with Child against a backdrop of the Brenta Dolomites as seen from the slopes of Monte Spinale.
The painting of the Madonna on Monte Spinale is extremely important as the title is the first indication of the name of the locality, Madonna di Campiglio, which was then reiterated in a treatise on the town written in 1900. On the opposite wall, the artist painted portraits of the two regal sovereigns, Princess Sissi and the Emperor Franz Josef in two medallions against a gilded background. The Princess stayed in Madonna di Campiglio twice, in 1889 and 1894, finding solace from her anguish in long walks accompanied by the mountain guide, Dallagiacoma, in Vallesinella on the Grostè mountain and Monte Spinale, which was her favourite because of the lush greenery and the aura of mystery surrounding it.