Hotel Carlo Magno

Our History

The exact date of the Hotel Zeledria’s origin is unknown, but believed to be around the beginning of the last century when Madonna di Campiglio was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and a sought-after destination for the Hapsburg aristocracy. The original building appears to have existed as early as 1907, as demonstrated by an inscription on a piece of timber found during the refurbishment of 1980, and was probably built as a refuge for workers from neighbouring valleys who came in search of wood and good pasture. The Zeledria was later transformed into an inn by Gregorio Alberti, an ordinary but proactive inhabitant of the Rendena Valley. Over the years, the Zeledria witnessed many events, visited in the 1930s by Prince Albert and Italian political leaders and occupied in the 1940s by German soldiers who set up an anti-aircraft position on the rooftop complete with machine gun turret to intercept Allied bombers. In 1942, the hotel was purchased by Giovanni Sala, a businessman from the Lombardy region, who greatly boosted winter tourism, previously unheard of. Indeed, in 1947, the Zeledria was one of the first hotels to open at New Year.

That same year, more than 60 years ago, the Zeledria was bought by Vigilio Maturi, father of Franco, the Hotel’s current owner. Vigilio, an ordinary local knife-sharpener, had, like many of his contemporaries, emigrated to the United States with his family in the 1930s to seek his fortune. In Detroit, through hard work, he found the success by opening a relatively profitable supermarket. However, Vigilio missed his mountains and came home where he purchased the Zeledria. Through the decades, the hotel has remained in the hands of the Maturi family who have always striven to keep pace with the times yet faithful to tradition; an approach continued by Franco Maturi, who transformed the Zeledria into the Hotel Carlo Magno Zeledria, a spa resort rooted in its setting.