The Grand Hotel Igea is a Liberty-style (Art Nouveau) building in the historic centre of Erice, Sicily. Formerly a hotel and a symbol of the townâÂÂs interwar tourism, it now serves as boarding accommodation for students of the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Ignazio e Vincenzo Florio hospitality school, which maintains a satellite campus in the historic centre.
At the start of the 20th century, Trapani merchant-philanthropist Luigi Lonero bought a row of dilapidated houses on Via Albertina degli Abbati and erected a large hospitality building. After restoration and a Liberty-style refacing by Palermo craftsmen, the Grand Hotel Igea opened c. 1927âÂÂ28 and became a symbol of EriceâÂÂs tourism, attracting figures from Sicilian aristocratic, cultural and political circles. It closed in the early 1960s after the manager withdrew; with no successor, the property fell into neglect.
Ownership passed to the Municipality of Erice in the 2010s, which set about restoring and converting the building into apartments. By 2021 the refurbishment was completedâÂÂpreserving the Liberty façade and creating ten municipal flatsâÂÂinitially intended for social housing (with calls aimed at mediumâÂÂlow-income families and under-31 households).
In November 2022 the municipality assigned units in the former hotel to the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Ignazio e Vincenzo Florio for use as student boarding (convitto). The residence serves students attending the instituteâÂÂs facilities in the hilltop historic centre at Palazzo Sales (the former Santa Teresa monastery) and supplements the boarding opened in 2021 at the former San Carlo convent.