Summer Festivals with Rocco Forte Hotels
As the warmer weather lures the crowds out into the sunshine, cities across Europe lay on an array of festivals and events to entertain the summer visitors. With luxury properties in key locations across the continent, Rocco Forte Hotels offers the perfect base from which to enjoy the music, art and other delights of these sun-soaked cities.
Berlin, Germany
Museum Island Festival (May – September)
Lovers of the arts will find endless delight in the joys of this summer festival. Enjoying a unique position in one of Europe’s most culturally saturated locations, there is plenty to see and do before you even sit down to enjoy the island’s open-air concerts. Featuring a mixture of popular and classical artists from around the world, past highlights have included Simply Red, Nigel Kennedy and Dido. This year the festival begins as it ended in 2006, with a performance by the Berlin Symphony of Mozart’s Apollo and Hyacinth. This performance sold out in days in 2006, so this is your last chance to experience this opera in the dramatic setting of the Bode Museum of Byzantine art. With five world-class, subterraneously interlinked museums to visit, the audience will still be spoilt for choice when the music has faded and the light has died.
Hotel de Rome is Berlin’s chicest and most fashionable property and the latest opening from Rocco Forte Hotels. Located just minutes from Museum Island, the hotel is the perfect place from which to take in all that the festival, and the city, has to offer.
Price: From €250 (approx. £170), per room, per night.
For more information, please visit www.roccofortecollection.com
For more information on Museumsinsel Festival, please visit www.smb.spk-berlin.de
Edinburgh, UK
Edinburgh International Festival (10 August – 2 September)
The world-famous Edinburgh International Festival celebrates its 60th anniversary this year and looks set to be one of the greatest celebrations of classical music, theatre, opera and dance to date. The festival has seen some of the world’s greatest performers grace its stages and 2007 will be no different with performances by Maestro Jordi Savall and the European premier of the American Repertory Theatre’s Orpheus X.
Rocco Forte’s The Balmoral is located right at the heart of the city at 1 Princes Street and boasts stunning views of the Castle and the Old Town. Edinburgh’s most glamorous address, The Balmoral offers guests all the amenities needed to enjoy the Edinburgh Festival in true style and comfort, including a Michelin-starred restaurant and an award-winning spa.
Price: From £180, per room, per night.
For more information, please visit www.roccofortecollection.com
For more information on the Edinburgh Festival, please visit www.eif.co.uk
Florence, Italy
70th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (May & June)
At the end of the 16th century, the world’s very first operas were performed in Florence and the city’s love affair with music has continued ever since. Still as popular today as it was at its inception 70 years ago, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino celebrates classical music, theatre and opera in one of the most evocative and romantic cities in the world. Performances take place in the Teatro Comunale as well as in the luscious surroundings of the Boboli Gardens. To celebrate its 70th year, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino has commissioned a special piece by famed composor Ivan Fedele that will be performed at the festival for the very first time. With the joys of Florence’s art and cuisine to enjoy as well, a visit to the festival is sure to stir all the senses.
Rocco Forte’s Hotel Savoy is located on the historic Piazza della Repubblica, close to all of Florence’s most famous landmarks, museums and palazzos. Styled by Rocco Forte Hotels’ Director of Design, Olga Polizzi, the hotel's elegant décor is contemporary Italian in style with neutral tones and tasteful fabrics throughout. Italian summer dining can get no more glorious than when enjoyed at Hotel Savoy’s L’Incontro restaurant, which opens out onto the piazza, perfect for basking in the sun while watching the afternoon passeggiata.
Price: From €440 (approx. £300), per room, per night.
For more information, please visit www.roccofortecollection.com
For more information on the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, please visit www.maggiofiorentino.com
Manchester, UK
Manchester International Festival (28 June – 15 July)
Launching for the very first time on 28 June, the Manchester International Festival looks set to threaten the throne of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a line up of some of the world’s most popular artists showcasing entirely original work. Manchester has a strong contemporary musical heritage and the festival has drawn on this strength to secure artists such as Kanye West, the Wombats, William Orbit and Damon Albarn. Also present will be notable figures from other cultural realms, such as Britain’s most innovative chef, the Michelin-starred Heston Blumenthal and comedian Johnny Vegas will also be performing new material.
Rocco Forte’s The Lowry Hotel is Manchester’s trendiest and most luxurious hotel. Located on the banks of the River Irwell on the Salford-Manchester boundary, the hotel is just minutes from all the shops, bars and entertainment that have made Manchester such a thriving and exciting city.
Price: From £125, per room, per night.
For more information, please visit www.roccofortecollection.com
For more information on the Manchester International Festival, please visit www.manchesterinternationalfestival.com
Munich, Germany
Oktoberfest (22 September – 7 October)
Every year, nearly six million people descend on the breweries of Munich for the biggest public festival in the world. As well as over six million litres of beer, visitors will devour 300,000 pork sausages, 600,000 roast chickens and over 80 oxen. More than a beer festival, Oktoberfest is a celebration of all things Bavarian and throughout the three weeks, parades, traditional folk dancing and even funfares offer diversions for every disposition!
Rocco Forte’s The Charles Hotel, located opposite the verdant Lenbach Gaertens, will open at the end of this summer, the third and latest Rocco Forte property in Germany. A stylish new-build property, The Charles Hotel is set to significantly raise the standard of visitor accommodation in Munich and will offer guests a haven of peace and tranquillity amidst the decadence of the Oktoberfest bacchanal!
Price: From €360 (approx. £245), per room, per night.
For more information, please visit www.roccofortecollection.com
For more information on the Oktoberfest, please visit www.oktoberfest.de/en
-ENDS–
For further information and/or an image, please contact:
Sue Heady
Director of Communications
Direct line: 020 7766 3107
Email: sheady@roccofortecollection.com
Natasha Berg
Media Relations Manager
Direct line: 020 7766 3116
E-mail: nberg@roccofortecollection.com
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Rocco Forte Hotels was established in 1996 to create a collection of luxury hotels in Europe. The hotels have individual styles, with each hotel reflecting its nationality and location. The collection is linked together under the Rocco Forte Hotels brand, which guarantees attention to detail, quality and service delivery.
The Rocco Forte Hotels collection includes:
- Hotel de Russie, Rome
- Hotel Savoy, Florence
- The Balmoral, Edinburgh
- The Lowry Hotel, Manchester
- Hotel Astoria, St Petersburg
- Hotel Amigo, Brussels
- Le Richemond, Geneva (currently closed for refurbishment, re-opening Sept 2007)
- Brown’s Hotel, London
- Villa Kennedy, Frankfurt
- Hotel de Rome, Berlin
- The Charles Hotel, Munich (opening autumn 2007)
Future openings:
Prague - 2008
Verdura Golf & Spa Resort, Sicily – 2008
For further information and online reservations, please visit the Rocco Forte Hotels website: www.roccofortecollection.com.
Angleterre Hotel, St Petersburg, is a deluxe four-star sister to Hotel Astoria. For information and reservations, please visit www.angleterrehotel.com.
