02/12/2005 - Golden Palace: the new five-star luxury hotel on the podium of the Turin Olympics
Three years on from the official announcement of its location in the historic building that was once the Turin headquarters of Toro Assicurazione, the new Golden Palace hotel is about to make its debut.
Deep in the heart of Turin, close to the Piazza San Carlo and the city’s major theatres, the new luxury five-star hotel, Golden Palace, is the third to be unveiled by Gruppo Turin Hotels International in Piedmont’s capital city and will open its doors next 9 January, ready to welcome many of the international delegations coming to follow the XX Winter Olympic Games Turin 2006 on 10 to 26 February. The plan to change the former insurance HQ into a tangible urban asset was approved by the City of Turin and has been thought out to provide a qualitative solution to the needs and expectations of the city of Turin in the Third Millennium.
The building, fruit of meticulous remodelling, has retained the post-second world war stone and glass appearance originally designed by the Decker studio – in that epoch, creator of the most prominent architectural features seen in the city. The current design was developed by Studio Simonetti and inspired by the colours and the symbols of the Olympic legend. The new hotel, which spans 18,000 square metres, conserves some of the Deco details that work very well with the new furnishings, with the new interactive maxi-plasma screens, and with the artistic installations crafted exclusively for Golden Palace by video-sculptor Fabrizio Plessi – whose installations also were shown at the last Venice Biennale – and by contemporary artist, Giovanni Lombardini.
The two buildings are called GoldenOne and GoldenTwo. One hundred and ninety-five rooms featuring sophisticated wooden furniture with elegant details in burnished brass and black lacquer and the linearity of the plasma television screens. The fifth floor is reserved for the nine spacious Executive Suites, enriched with authentic works by the painter Giovanni Lombardini.
Free time at the new Golden Palace will flow by in the Time Bar, with its smoked glass windows behind which digital clocks in various formats count the seconds of the most important records. A place for business and for pure enjoyment and relaxation. The Winner Restaurant is open to hotel patrons and city guests alike, offering them a gourmet ambience decorated in metallic Olympic hues, which, behind the golden reflections of its wrought-iron gateway, reveals the pleasures of a carefully selected a la carte menu, as well as a variety of menus created especially for people on the go, but who do not want to miss out on the delights of the table.
The Wellness Club, temple of relaxation, counts on 1100 sq.m. wholly devoted to well-being, between a small boutique, an exercise pool with a large relaxation area, cascade and cold mist showers, Turkish bath and sauna, tanning booth, roomy, comfortable cubicles for treatments, and a fitness area with numerous top-of-the-line Technogym machines.
The underground level offers private parking and a complete conference centre with four connecting and modular rooms that can be shaped into different sizes and adapted to diverse needs.