Art for art’s sake Absolutely packs a paintbrush and picks the top three resorts that combine art with relaxation
MASSERIA TORRE COCCARO, PUGLIA
MASSERIA TORRE COCCARO, PUGLIA
A.A. Gill was rather rude about Puglia in The Sunday Times a couple of years ago, dismissing it as ‘dirty’ and ‘despondent’. We have no idea what he was on about. Any doubts you may have about this southern region of Italy will be dispelled by this lovely hotel in a hot, lazy, rural landscape alive with bees and wild flowers, and dotted with olive trees that are hundreds of years old. A ‘masseria’ is an old fortified farmhouse typical of Puglia. Coccaro, which is built around a charming courtyard, and boasts its own 17thcentury church, is one of the most sympathetic restorations, maintaining its rustic, irregular charms – bumpy limestone floors and walls, and a shabby-chic look -- without compromising on comfort. This place is an art lovers dream. There is an artist in residence and twice a year a new piece of work is launched. The current collection totals 14 – quite brilliant – installations including three frescos in the hotel’s 12th-century grotto. The cuisine is here is rural comfort food. There’s not much emphasis on meat; Puglian cuisine evolved in a poor region that derived taste from the most basic (and healthy) ingredients,
THE DOLDER GRAND, ZURICH
and thus does incredibly inventive things with vegetables and pasta, as well as serving excellent fresh fish from the Adriatic coast. Coccaro is full of secret nooks and crannies, with divans and wooden tables where you can find some privacy in the sun, and it has a great pool with a sloping shallow area that is perfect for children. It is friendly, charming, unpretentious and thoroughly Puglian. You probably won’t spot gangs of patronising British media luvvies here -- but maybe that’s all part of its charm. Doubles are from € 422 a night including breakfast and taxes. masseriatorrecoccaro.com
Think of Zurich and you might think of bankers, watches and chocolate, but art? In fact, the city has a vibrant art scene and at The Dolder Grand, art is very much on the agenda. This city landmark has been perched above Lake Zurich since 1899. After a fouryear restoration led by Sir Norman Foster it reopened in 2008 as a thoroughly modern masterpiece. Two wings with sweeping glass facades now flank the hotel’s main building, with its fairytale steeples and lofty wooden ceilings, artfully mixing the traditional and contemporary. The Dolder’s owner, Urs Schwarzenbach’s museum-worthy private art collection – there are around 130 pieces – adorns the walls. An enormous Warhol panel hangs above the onyx reception desk, depicting everything from Marilyn Monroe to Chairman Mao, while a Dali greets you at the entrance to the two Michelin-starred restaurant. Art is all over the city. From Chagall’s exquisite stained-glass windows in the 9th-century Gothic abbey, Fraumünster, and Giacometti’s murals at the police
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