Luxury Hotels Atlas / The Maison / Pellicano Hotels
Pellicano Hotels hotels
A Tuscan retreat for friends sets the tone for Italian villas and a coastal watchtower.
Pellicano Hotels brings an intimate Italian approach to coastal and countryside retreats, with Il Pellicano’s Tuscan cliffs at the heart of the story. Led by Marie-Louise Sciò, the collection carries a personal sensibility through terracotta, linen, attentive hosting, and hotels such as La Posta Vecchia and Mezzatorre.
3 Pellicano Hotels hotels in 1 country on the Luxury Hotels Atlas, each placed on the six LHA Tiers.
- Owned by the Sciò family
- Worldwide: 3 operating hotels, all in Italy, as of mid-2026, with 2 more (La Suvera, La Badia) under restoration for 2027 — a deliberately Italy-only, acquisition-led growth strategy rather than international franchising.
- On the atlas: 1 Apex Luxury, 2 Grand Luxury
History
Michael Graham and Patsy Daszel created Il Pellicano as a Tuscan retreat for friends, naming it after the Californian place where they met. Roberto Sciò acquired the hotel in 1979, and Marie-Louise Sciò later carried its personal atmosphere into other Italian houses. The collection’s newer restoration projects extend that interest in historic places with a character of their own.
Timeline
- 1965 — British RAF aviator Michael Graham and American socialite Patsy Daszel, who met at a party at Pelican Point, California, in the mid-1950s, inaugurate Hotel Il Pellicano on a secluded cove of the Monte Argentario peninsula as a private club for their circle of friends.
- 1979 — Italian businessman Roberto Sciò, a Graham house-guest who had fallen for the property years earlier, buys Hotel Il Pellicano outright after Michael Graham loses interest in hotel management.
- 1990 — Sciò acquires La Posta Vecchia, a 17th-century Orsini/Odescalchi seaside villa near Rome once owned and restored by J. Paul Getty, and opens it as a 19-room hotel, later joining Relais & Châteaux.
- 2019 — Pellicano Hotels, now led by Marie-Louise Sciò, takes over an unfinished 16th–17th-century Aragonese watchtower on Ischia, previously an independent pensione, and reopens it as Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa, fed by a natural 45°C hot spring.
- August 2023 — Pellicano Hotels Italy signs a strategic partnership with London asset manager Aermont Capital, committing roughly €200 million to acquire and restore further Italian properties.
- 2024 — The group acquires the 36-room Relais La Suvera near Siena, a 12th-century fortress turned Renaissance villa for Pope Julius II by architect Baldassarre Peruzzi, for roughly €18 million, its second Tuscan address alongside Il Pellicano.
- 2025 — Hotel Il Pellicano marks its 60th anniversary with a seaside celebration; the group acquires the former Benedictine abbey La Badia near Orvieto, Umbria, for roughly €43 million (acquisition plus restoration), its first Umbrian property.
- 2026 — The three operating hotels reopen for the season with refreshed rooms, a new General Manager at Il Pellicano (Edward Leenders) and at Mezzatorre (Antonella Puglisi), and a renewed group-wide wellbeing focus ("Il Dolce Far Bene").
The houses to know
- Hotel Il Pellicano, Porto Ercole, Italy — The founding house and the muse of photographer Slim Aarons, a cliffside cove hotel that has defined Italian coastal glamour since 1965.
- Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa, Ischia, Italy — An unfinished 16th–17th-century Aragonese watchtower reborn as a 48-room thermal-spa retreat, its very name means "half-tower."
- La Posta Vecchia Hotel, Palo Laziale, Italy — A 17th-century Orsini seaside villa once restored and inhabited by J. Paul Getty, with a Roman-era archaeological museum inside.
Newest openings
- No new Pellicano-branded hotel has opened in the last 24 months. The group's most recent openings have been in the form of acquisitions of future sites — La Suvera (2024) and La Badia (2025) — both currently closed for restoration ahead of 2027 reopenings (see Coming-Soon / Pipeline and Planned Renovations below).
Opening next
- La Suvera — Pievescola, Casole d'Elsa (Siena), Tuscany — expected 2027 — A 12th-century fortress transformed into a Renaissance villa for Pope Julius II by architect Baldassarre Peruzzi; acquired by Pellicano in 2024 for roughly €18 million and undergoing a €53 million total restoration (acquisition plus works) under Marie-Louise Sciò, expanding from 36 to roughly 60 rooms and suites, two pools, three bars, a spa, and a consecrated on-site church. Will be the group's second Tuscan hotel alongside Il Pellicano.
- La Badia — outside Orvieto, Umbria — expected 2027 — A former Benedictine abbey dating to the 6th–12th centuries, with a rare dodecagonal tower and a Romanesque church, on nearly 30 hectares of woods and gardens; acquired in 2025 for roughly €43 million (acquisition plus restoration), shrinking from a 27-room 4-star property to a fully reimagined 24-room hotel with spa, tennis court, restaurant, and boutique. Will be the group's first Umbrian property.
- The group has stated a target of reaching eight to ten hotels within five to six years as it continues scouting further acquisitions with Aermont Capital.
Every Pellicano Hotels hotel on the atlas
Italy
- Hotel Il Pellicano — Porto Ercole · Apex Luxury
- La Posta Vecchia Hotel — Palo Laziale · Grand Luxury
- Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa — Ischia · Grand Luxury
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