Palazzo Monti – a stunning Italian pop-up hotel from Vipp

I’m always excited when Danish design brand Vipp announces a new addition to its ever-expanding portfolio of bookable one-of-a-kind accommodation options, and I’ve had the pleasure of visiting (though sadly not staying!) at one of them myself. They’ve just released details of their latest opening, and this time there’s a twist – it’s not in Scandinavia but Italy, and it’s not a permanent fixture but a pop-up hotel created to mark this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan.

The venue is Palazzo Monti, a 13th-century palace located an hour away from Milan in the city of Brescia. Founder and curator Eduardo Monti has hosted more than 200 artists in residence since he opened its doors in 2017, and now Vipp is taking over part of the space for what’s being dubbed its first ‘liveable installation’.

The project was styled by Danish interior designer Julie Cloos Mølsgaard using furniture and accessories from Vipp’s own collection, and the result is a stunning fusion of Baroque maximalism and Nordic minimalism. Interiors that mix old and new never fail to appeal to me but this takes things to an entirely new level, with clean, contemporary lines alongside 18th-century frescoes, marble fireplaces and ornately carved doorways and balustrades.

Accessed via a grand staircase, the main suite encompasses a hallway, a salon, a bedroom and an adjacent bathroom. All are furnished with minimalist pieces in metal, black leather, marble and soft beige wool, creating a striking contrast with the time-worn stone, warm terracotta hues and pale-green accents of the building.

Mølsgaard has also created a communal area on the ground floor, where guests can chat over coffee with the residency programme’s current artists. Here, a Venetian ceiling and glossy jade-green floor tiles are offset beautifully by Vipp’s sleek ‘V1’ modular kitchen system in matt black, together with a limited-edition ‘Monti’ version of its swivel chair featuring richly woven upholstery from renowned Italian textile company Torri Lana.

The whole place looks absolutely spectacular, and I should imagine it will book up very quickly. After all, who wouldn’t want to wake up under those ceilings, with bright Italian sunshine streaming in through the windows and the scent of a freshly brewed espresso drifting up from below…?

The pop-up Palazzo Monti hotel will be open from 18th April to 18th May 2023. Prices and booking information are available on request via Vipp.com.

Photography by Irina Boersma César Machado, courtesy of Vipp