The hospitality gospel, according to Hugo Pizzinini, has one golden rule: never take advantage of your guests, no matter how liquored up they may be.
The co-owner and managing director of Italy’s Aman Rosa Alpina is delivering his sermon at his hotel’s Grill restaurant, wielding a fork and knife in one hand like chopsticks, leaving the other free to gesticulate as he tells ROAM about the group of half-cut Russians who tried to order a $2400 bottle of wine during a late-night bender.
Pizzinini poured them the wine, which they enjoyed immensely, but the next morning confessed he’d actually brought them a different bottle at a 10th of the price, because they were too drunk to appreciate the trophy wine they’d requested.
“I could have made a lot of money,” he tells ROAM, “but my mission is long term.”
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Pizzinini knows a thing or two about playing the long game. His grandfather opened a small mountain guesthouse, Alpenrose, on this site in the Tyrolean village of San Cassiano in 1939.
Huddled beneath the pale limestone ramparts of the Dolomites, it welcomed guests for 30 years before Hugo’s father transformed it into Rosa Alpina, a boutique retreat with a three-star Michelin restaurant, which became the chosen haunt of A-list celebrities and assorted Dolomiti glitterati.
Aman Rosa Alpina in Italy. Credit: Alex Moling
In 2023 the hotel came down (again) and from its ashes rose the 51-key Aman Rosa Alpina, after a deal inked between Pizzinini and Aman owner Vladislav Doronin, who stayed as a guest at Rosa Alpina.
With its sleek exterior of oak and layered stone sprouting from the green hillside (snow white in winter), it’s the most audacious edifice ever erected in the Alta Badia Valley, yet somehow doesn’t look out of place among the farmhouses, church spires, timber chalets and grazing cows in the tiny, Ladin-speaking village.
Pizzinini says he lost a few old-timers when the hotel traded rustic cosiness for cutting-edge polish, but who needs sentimentality when you’re flogging entry-level rooms for $3000 a pop? He wanted to keep things fresh, rather than risk becoming one of those “charming but boring” grande dame hotels that are a fixture throughout Europe.
Stepping from the old village into the cathedral-like Il Salotto lounge bar, with its massive tapestries of the Dolomites hanging like altarpieces and full-length windows framing the forest, is nothing short of thrilling.
Inside the Zeno Suite. Credit: Supplied
Every room has a fireplace (enhancing the alpine smugness) and an opulent, stone-tiled bathroom. Even the most modest rooms feel epic.
A 20m outdoor infinity pool floats among pine trees, while downstairs you’ll find a Finnish sauna and steam bath, a lavish day spa, a kick-arse gym and two indoor pools.
The restaurant has ditched fine dining for a more relaxed Italian menu, where simple dishes are executed with precision (aglio e olio is the hardest dish to get right, states Pizzinini).
The wine list reveals careful curation. Alongside expected heavy hitters like DRC, Grange and super Tuscans like Sassicaia, ROAM spies a Sami-Odi shiraz, a Barossa Valley cult wine where back home you’ll be joining a 15-year waiting list to get a bottle.
The outdoor pool. Credit: Supplied
Order it here instead, and pray Pizzinini deems you sober enough to deserve it.
Strada Micura de Rue, 20, 39036 San Cassiano, Italy
Full-length windows reveal massive tapestries of the Dolomites. Credit: Supplied
PRICEFrom approx. $2800 per night for a superior room. The 158sqm Aman suite starts at approx. $22,350
INSIDERSkiers can stroll (or take a complimentary shuttle) to the Piz Sorega gondola and lock into the 12 interconnected resorts of the Dolomiti Superski, the largest ski area in the world. Local operators Dolomites Mountains will package you a fully guided, multi-day ski safari. Summer hiking trails radiate in all directions, leading to refugios (mountain guesthouses). aman.com/resorts/aman-rosa-alpina; dolomitemountains.com/en/home
