About us
Perugia: Jazz, Wine and Chocolate, added values of the city and Hotels "themed"
Hotel Umbria: the history of Hotel Giò
The project was born in 1992, when we inaugurated our first thematic resort hotel, dedicated to wine. For the rooms’ furniture we took inspiration from the national and international wineries, the hall’s décor was inspired to a cellar and to an old country house. Due to the presence of the gastronomic department store, we pointed out the importance of wine in our restaurant: our sommelier has always been taking care of the bottles selection. In our wine menu there are 1.000 labels, from all over the world. We were among the first ones to serve wine by the glass, we began to organize taste workshops and we go on making it, we play the game of “5 glasses/the ghost wine” with our guests. Last but not least we organize meetings with the chef and thematic events, among them dinners dedicated to rice, bluefish, and codfish.
In 1998 we decided to inaugurate a new thematic resort hotel, dedicated to chocolate, another surplus value of Perugia. The new opening was based on a simple philosophy: Perugia is a marvellous town, but not more marvellous than other Italian cities. However, there are “themes”, such as typical products, that characterise it from the others. One among them is chocolate, actually, with the production in the factory Perugina, and with Eurochocolate celebrating its 20th birthday this year. By the way, the society which runs the Hotels and the one which is creator and owner of Eurochocolate brand are the same.
That’s why the floors were named after different sorts of chocolate: in the hall you will find a bathtub full of chocolate to beevem melt, Chococuddles, Chocoburraco (card game), Chocostore with products of Costruttori di Dolcezze by Eurochocolate, Choco Sweet Suite, a Suite filled in with all the chocolate you want, and the Restaurant Buone Nuove, that offers an all-cocoa menu, from the starter to the dessert, besides the traditional one.
Here we are in 2007. During Umbria Jazz we inaugurated the third thematic resort Hotel. It is actually an extension of the original Hotel Giò, linked to it by a peculiar arcade set up in part as a musical gallery and in part as a Business Cellar. A piano keyboard rules the setting, musical videos follow the guests when they pass by.
Jazz is celebrated through a collection of vintage vinyls, ancient pianos (the oldest of 1740), a Steinway & Sons, author pictures, massage chair and CD player in the rooms, the restaurant called New Orleans, treble clefs as centrepieces, personalized vinyls as underdishes…and so on.
Jazz is also a surplus value for our town, which is animated and full of colours during Umbria Jazz, in July. In cooperation with Jazz Club Perugia, we have organized a season of concerts of the greatest Jazz players, from Ciammarughi to Gatto, from Cafiso to the Funk Off, Gino Paoli, Harlem Gospel Choir, Brad Mehldau, Manhattan Transfer, all of them have played on stage at the Auditorium of Hotel Giò Jazz Area.
Last news of the group Apicehotels is the project CameraCantina® a unique, emotional room, that reminds the colours and the atmospheres of the cellars (clay and wood pavement, barriques and case for the grape harvest, stone coverings), but also an exhibition space that tells the history of the wineries and their own style, the flavour of the greatest Italian wines and the beauty of the production’s area.
33 CameraCantina® , each one of them dedicated to a wine producer, to a product itself (wines, or sparkling wines, spirits etc) or to a territory. A unique format thought not only to offer a comfortable stay to the guests of hotel Giò, but also to arouse curiosity for the Italian wineries and motivate the interest for the wine culture, and to participate to events and appointments accompanied by a good glass of wine! For wineries, signing its own CameraCantina® means personalize the elements and the furnitures as the wine desk, the wine lamp, the cases of wines that become bedside tables, the wine wall and much more!
The IV International Wine Tourism Conference and Workshop, from 30th January to 2nd February 2012, has chosen Hotel Giò Wine Area as venue for its works; this is the perfect occasion to introduce the first 33 CameraCantina® to the International Press and Public.
The CameraCantina® project is supported by Umbrian Wine producers as Lungarotti, Caprai, Adanti, Rocca di Fabbri, Aliani, Madonna del Latte, Terre Margaritelli, Antonelli, Còlpetrone, Falesco, Cantine Goretti, Madrevite, Cantina Briziarelli, Carlo e Marco Carini, Terre de’ Trinciand by producers from other regions, such as Rocca delle Macìe and Castello Banfi from Tuscany, from Calabria Senatore Vini, from MarcheMonte Schiavo and from Apulia Tenute Al Bano Carrisi.
A made in Italy project, supported by great Italian companies and the research made by the Italian Institute for Design.
CameraCantina® is not only a format linked to the Hotel’s welcoming, but also a wider project, that develops the promotion of Wine and the creation of new commercial formats for the distribution and promotion of the oenological culture, furthermore it develops and create new marketing formats, also in order to spread the concept of a fair consumption.”