The Box: a new life for a formerly abandoned hotel in Riccione, Italy

In the center of the Italian seaside town of Riccione, the Hotel Sixty was left abandoned for 9 years. Following an eight-month renovation, Marianna Chiaraluce and Alfredo Monetti of branding and strategy firm Hospitality Mood, gave a new life to the abandoned hotel as The Box.

“The Box’s philosophy rotates around a simple concept: less, but better” said Marianna Chiaraluce and Alfredo Monetti.

When imagining The Box, the creators focused on what people really need when they are away from home: comfort, beauty and human connections.

The beating heart of The Box is the “MAD Cocktail Bar & Cucina”, the hotel’s restaurant led by chef Francesco Montemurro, where guests and locals alike are encouraged to stop for brunch or for a cocktail at night. At the entrance, guests don’t find a reception desk but a bar counter with three-dimensional ceramic and brass finishes where travelers can have a drink before check-in. The ground floor thus becomes a meeting point between travelers and locals, characterized by multi-functional spaces that change according to needs. In the “Pink”-Pong Room, for example, you can eat, have a meeting or simply challenge your friends on a powder pink ping-pong table.

An eclectic and international mix of furnishings dot the hotel’s commons areas and 40 guestrooms, creating a “romantic industrial” mix, inspired by the colors and settings of Wes Anderson’s films. Throughout the hotel, vintage pieces sit alongside design icons like Knoll’s Bertoia chairs and Tulip armchairs. Handmade brass lamps by Lebanese lighting company PSLab, 1950s-style furnishings by Polish brand 366 Concept, bedside tables by Moroso and wallpapers by Wall&Deco are just some of the furnishing that create this international mix.

The Box is just a few steps from the typical umbrella-dotted shoreline of the Italian Adriatic coast.

Photography by Flavio Ricci

www.theboxriccione.com