16/01/2025: Hotel a little dated, but breakfast and dinner excellent as was the staff
25/12/2024: 2018 Comfortable. Good cuisine. Family management.
2024 Historic hotel, a gem for those who love history. Compared to our previous visit, notable improvements, new mattresses and wallpaper removed. The windows and doors are vintage but the large radiator in the room is sufficient to provide the necessary heat. It's not cold at all. Everything clean. . Excellent breakfasts, and completely adequate dinner cuisine. Excellent value for money. If you are looking for a modern hotel go elsewhere, if you are looking for history, a period but comfortable hotel, this is the best in Bardonecchia, also because it is unique. The hotel operators are precise, attentive to the customer, professional and friendly.
The Hotel Sommeiller, founded in 1884, represents one of the first examples of structured hospitality in Bardonecchia, a municipality in the Cottian Alps in the province of Turin. Its creation is linked to the period of tourist and infrastructural development that characterized post-unification Italy, with a growing attention to mountain resorts for both recreational and curative purposes.
The hotel's name presumably recalls Germain Sommeiller, the Savoyard engineer known for his contribution to the construction of the Frejus railway tunnel (completed in 1871), which connected Italy to France across the Alps. This important railway connection made Bardonecchia a strategic transit point and an accessible destination, favoring the influx of travellers, tourists and prominent personalities of the time.
The hotel was born with the aim of offering an elegant and comfortable place to stay, characterized by an Art Nouveau architectural style that was very popular at the end of the 19th century. Its large rooms and refined details reflect the taste of an era in which hospitality was combined with prestige. The central position, overlooking the main square, immediately made it a point of reference for visitors and a symbol of the tourist expansion of Bardonecchia.
During its long history, the hotel has witnessed important historical and cultural events, adapted to social changes and maintained a central role in the local community. Today, although renovated, it retains many of its original features, offering its guests an experience that combines tradition and modernity.