It was my father Alfredo Vanzo, construction entrepreneur with innate hospitality, warm welcoming manners and passion for local costumes, who bought the hotel in 1973. The so called ‘Orso Grigio’ Hotel changed my life.

I was only 25 years old, with a degree in foreign literature and languages and clueless about this great opportunity; the adventure of managing a business created by my father for myself, by myself.

We always like to say that he was farsighted; I was accustomed to take part in lavishly decked tables prepared for his friends and guests who felt themselves like part of our family. I had experienced different cultures and customs through my numerous trips abroad; I had great language and managing skills. All this aside, it was my family who gave me the courage and strength to pursue this venture. Without my mother Renata and my siblings Mauro, Morena and expecially Lorenzo, I wouldn’t be telling you my story.

I did the rest. Orso Grigio stands today as my business, job, family and home.

This property was the first residence from wool merchants (in 1400), followed by notary dynasties (from ‘500 to ‘700) who decorated the exterior façade with frescoes paintings, until it became the Hotel ‘Antico Albergo Reale’ in 1800. The Antico Albergo Reale was famous for its hay baths and grapes treatments and hosted many eminent personalities, namely the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph of Habsburg.

Today the Orso Grigio is a wonderful four-star hotel in the heart of Cavalese, with view on the main square, near the palace of the Magnifica Comunità.