From the Crotto to the Hotel Regina: a family affair
What is seen today as Hotel Regina is the result of an intuition on the part of my father Giacomo Rasella and uncle Giovanni (two visionary brothers) who already in the 1980s saw the economic future in tourism for Upper Lake Como, when very few believed in its attractiveness.
In the early 1930s, it was grandparents Giuseppe and Orsola, in defiance of the Great Depression, who established the inn “Crotto Regina.” Our Crotto became a well-known meeting place, where at the end of the workday people met to dance, play cards and morra as well as delight in the most authentic flavors of our food and wine tradition.
With the arrival of the 1960s, the business faced a period of crisis, prompting my father and uncle to pursue different career paths.
Nevertheless, over the next few decades Giovanni and Giacomo developed the idea of renovating the old “Crotto Regina” in order to build a new hotel facility on the large lakefront property. In the early 1980s, the opportunity arose to put this project into practice; thus, the present Hotel Regina was born.
I can still remember what a thrill it was for all of us to witness the long-awaited opening in 1998. I was only a 16-year-old high school student, but my father Giacomo did quite well to transmit to me his great love for this work, or should I say, for an actual life choice.
Today I run Hotel Regina together with my wife Chiara and our team of professionals. Just like my parents, uncles and even before them, grandparents, we have chosen to dedicate our passion and commitment to welcoming, hosting and pampering our guests –some of whom with time have become good friends as well.
