Villa della Pergola has its roots in the history of Western Liguria. In our history. And today it is the living symbol of a profound commitment to cultural conservation and valorization, of the reaffirmation of ancient values and their priceless legacy. Of an imprint left over time, which continues to make an indelible impression. Crossing the gate you will discover a stage of values, where our vision is reflected in the long and demanding work that will reveal itself once you enter. Our fight to preserve this treasure testifies to our dedication to protecting, enhancing and being custodians of what surrounds us, of our roots and of our territory: a territory that between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was chosen by the English as a destination to settle in large numbers, electing it to Italian Riviera, and which has hosted incredible stories over time. Famous authors have set books and theatrical comedies in Alassio, different architectures have skilfully combined in new and elegant styles and important families, artists and historical figures have lived and fallen in love with this landscape. Liguria, Alassio, its history and its traditions, as well as nature and culture are heritages to be safeguarded and which we want to take care of.

Genius Loci

Villa della Pergola's story is one of resistance and resilience, in which the genius loci defeated concrete and destruction, a story that without constant commitment and unconditional love would today have become a blank page again. Staying here is more than just a holiday, it is a privileged and unique experience, as is visiting the Gardens that embrace the Relais and which over the years, after a majestic recovery and subsequent constant commitment, have been awarded as the “The most beautiful park in Italy”.

Historical Recovery

After the acquisition at the bankruptcy auction, work began immediately on the Villas and in the Park. A meticulous conservative restoration project was started for the buildings, where thanks also to the help of our friend Ettore Mocchetti for the aesthetic recovery of the environments and rooms we succeeded in the difficult task of modernizing while remaining faithful to their soul. Starting from the study of a few faded photographs from the early twentieth century, we undertook a rigorous path of historical-philological research to recover and rediscover the surprising past of Villa della Pergola. We traveled for years around the world in order to obtain as much information as possible, contacting and getting to know the families and heirs of the previous English owners, cultivating wonderful friendships and dusting off precious memories together with the Hanburys and the Montagus, on a journey that led to explore magical places such as Edinburgh and Bass Rock. And again, up to the Scottish North Berwick, hometown of the Dalrymples. Families who wrote the history of Villa della Pergola and who helped us find it again, together with a thousand curiosities and small but fundamental details. We met and collected testimonies from incredible people, such as the ultra-centenarian second chauffeur of Daniel Hanbury, who, driving the legendary Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, undertook a two-week journey every year to bring the Hanbury family from England to Alassio and who in his those long journeys were still indelibly imprinted on his memory. Up to experiencing the privilege of sharing moments with personalities such as Theresa May and King Charles III, who thanks to us today know Villa della Pergola and Alassio.

In the recovery of the Gardens, with the precious collaboration of one of the most important landscape architects, Paolo Pejrone, we have not renounced conscious changes, respecting its history but in the belief that a large historical park is first of all a living being, which changes and it transforms as the years pass. Every stone, every corner tells of a rediscovery, a fragment of the past that we have the honor of preserving. We have saved incredible legacies left by time, such as the precious avocado trees planted by Italo Calvino's parents, and created new collections that are today famous in the botanical world, such as that of wisteria, the most important in Italy, and that of agapanths, the largest in Europe for variety and vastness. We have planted a citrus grove that has over forty different types and which is part of a perfect circular ecosystem, supplying the restaurant and kitchen of Villa della Pergola to delight our guests with its fruits. We have also given refuge to plants saved in other parts of Italy: our rare centuries-old myrtle trees come from an ancient convent in Sicily.

Care for the Environment

The recovery and regeneration project was also dedicated to the environmental sustainability that is dear to us: during the restoration of the Park, after the restoration of what is now a world heritage site, the dozens of long and characteristic dry stone walls were almost completely damaged , we immediately proceeded with the complete creation of an irrigation system and water conveyance, in order to limit water consumption as much as possible. At the Gardens the commitment is great. Taking care of a striped botanical garden is not easy: all maintenance work must be carried out by hand or with the use of small machinery and agricultural tools, for which we are abandoning the use of diesel and petrol in favor of electric. In the Gardens we also keep native species that are fundamental for the protection of native fauna and we curate collections capable of supporting a diversified biodiversity, also appreciated by now settled inhabitants such as red squirrels, hedgehogs, falcons and barn owls. We prefer nurseries, suppliers and local companies and we are committed daily to the progressive replacement of chemical treatments with organic ones for phytotherapy. Most waste materials are reused in a virtuous circle, as is water, so precious and indispensable for a garden. But attention to the environment is found constant in all the souls of Villa della Pergola. In the Relais, energy saving is a priority, thanks to the photovoltaic system that powers high-efficiency air conditioning systems. The water is partly recovered and the energy is constantly reused as much as possible. Advanced systems for monitoring and optimizing resource management help our efforts to protect the environment on a daily basis.

At Villa della Pergola we also want to be artisans of good cuisine, accompanying our guests on a journey that is an authentic, unique and regenerating experience that embraces all five senses. The Nove Restaurant was born precisely from the strong desire to create a place where to combine territory, timeless traditions, ancestral memories of good eating, sustainability and history.

With a look at Innovation

At Nove the cuisine adapts to the passing of the seasons and to the availability of the day, with a unique plus: allowing our guests to also taste the surrounding nature. In fact, for his preparations the Chef has the unique opportunity to draw from the citrus fruit collection of the Gardens of Villa della Pergola and from our adjacent farm, "L'Orto Rampante", whose rotation of fruit and vegetable crops is functional to the Kitchen. Ingredients that embellish the breakfasts, the fresh juices from the bar and the restaurant dishes: at Nove it is precisely these products that paint the dedicated menu, awarded as "best vegetarian and vegan proposal 2024", thanks to the idea of interpreting vegetables, the world of the vegetable garden and greenery. A sustainable fine dining cuisine with a circular and zero-centimetre use, which enhances the dishes and offers genuine and sincere flavours, thanks also to a relationship of trust with local suppliers and the search for excellent raw materials from all over Italy and neighboring France.

The Orto Rampante, our organic farm, fits harmoniously into this ecosystem and its philosophy. The Orto Rampante is linked to Villa della Pergola and its Gardens by the same outburst of love in an adventure to save the territory and its history: in recent years an impressive work of recovery of the land adjacent to Villa della Pergola, an area abandoned for more than half a century. Eight kilometers of dry stone walls, characteristic of our territory and whose construction art is a UNESCO heritage site, have been completely rebuilt, the olive groves restored and the land cleared and put into production. Here we find virtuous and environmentally friendly practices: our crop boxes derive from recycled material, and are filled with a first layer of stones and flakes recovered during land reclamation and a second layer with wood chips and branches, made during the cleaning of neighboring land. The crop rotation itself is carried out based on the concrete needs of the Restaurant and Relais, respecting seasonality, so as to avoid waste as much as possible. For irrigation, a modern water system has been designed which favors reuse and significantly reduces consumption. The Orto Rampante is a heroic agriculture project, so characteristic of our land, which is both an act of resistance and resilience. A common thread which, in a respectful contemporary reading, brings us back to a deep connection with the land that nourishes us and which is always capable of repaying our effort and commitment with true emotions.

To the future

The Orto Rampante will soon be embellished with the prestigious contribution of another Italian excellence in the world, a Ligurian who, like us, deeply loves his land: Renzo Piano. Together with him and his RPBW we are creating a project that reinterprets the concept of traditional Ligurian greenhouses in a contemporary key, reducing the environmental impact to a minimum, to further enhance and revalue this place through a new concept of hospitality, dissemination, research and food.