“See you at the Dora!”
This phrase, uttered by aristocrats, military officers, travellers, artists, actors, industrialists, businesspeople, as well as countless residents of Ivrea stopping by for an aperitif or a coffee, served for decades as the watchword of a lively, engaged, and elegantly cosmopolitan Ivrea. And by “the Dora” people meant what for many years was the Hotel Dora e Scudo di Francia. Built in 1906 as Palazzo Ravera, distinguished by its harmonious curved façade and magnificent reception hall, it was transformed into a hotel in 1918 by Armando Mosca, who had taken over the existing Ristorante Dora Bellavista.
Overlooking the river just a short walk from Ponte Nuovo, the “Dora” became a meeting place not only for high society but also—especially from the 1950s onwards—for the intellectual elite that gathered around Adriano Olivetti. Here one might encounter film stars such as sisters Doris and Constance Dowling (“Connie” would become Cesare Pavese’s last, ill-fated love) or Lana Turner (who came to Ivrea to visit “John” Enrione Perona, a native of Chiaverano and owner of the legendary New York nightclub El Morocco). Many stayed here for extended periods despite their diverse political views and ideals, united by the conviction that they were helping to build a new kind of community. Architects, engineers, poets, writers, painters, and journalists gave life to evenings in which ideas sparkled like fireworks. One of them, Giancarlo Lunati, wrote: “At the Hotel Dora you met more brilliant minds than at Rome’s Caffè Rosati.”
One of those “brilliant minds” was the poet Giovanni Giudici, who arrived in Ivrea as a copywriter in 1956 and dedicated these charming lines to the building:
The Dora
humble and modest
dwelling – yet still the place –
whose thresholds, at this very hour
are graced by successful men.
Once the venue for unforgettable balls and gala evenings, as well as Carnival celebrations and the Jazz Festival, this elegant building still speaks of those roaring years, even if today they survive only in memory.
