Above: The pool at the Splendido is renowned for its setting overlooking the marina.
High above the crystalline waters of Portofino, Italy—overlooking a jewel of a harbor so tiny it’s hard to conceive how megayachts bearing the likes of Madonna, Kim Kardashian, and Leonardo DiCaprio can jostle in for a berth—there is a drive that winds even higher up the steep mountainside. It’s so tight that when two cars meet, it often means one must make a choice. But at the top, reward comes as a burst of pure glory: an endless view of the sunlit, impossibly picturesque horizon from the terrace of the Splendido hotel, spritz in hand.
Now, after years of painstaking renovation, the grande dame of Portofino is ready for her close-up. Belmond, the ultraluxe travel company that has taken over as steward of the historic hotel, engaged A-List designer Martin Brudnizki to reimagine the spaces. This summer his vision is finally complete, including the reopening of the legendary Splendido bar.
The refreshed lounge features hand-painted vines, a jewel box bar that lights up, and photo-hyphen worthy views of the sunset over Portofino.
“It’s a great honor to have the chance to reawaken that beauty,” says the Swedish designer, who works out of offices in both London and New York. He, like so many others, was enchanted by Splendido lore: that it was once a 16th-century monastery ransacked by pirates and abandoned, then purchased as a country house by a nobleman in the 19th century, and, ultimately, opened as a hotel in 1902. “It’s a story that we wanted to tell through design and materiality that is really regional to Genoa and the Italian coast,” Brudnizki says.
That meant employing details such as the typically Genoese graniglia terrazzo floors, black and white marble, and the local practice of elaborately painted furniture, which Brudnizki says is “lots of fun.”
“It’s been sort of like a small treasure trove that we could be very creative with,” says Brudnizki, who started visiting the hotel for his own vacations in 2016.
An oversize tub featuring the graniglia terrazzo distinct to the Genoese region.
“There’s so much history, so much craftsmanship, so many stories to tell,” says Ons Gherib, Belmond’s SVP of design and construction, who is informed by his experience at brands like Saint Laurent and Chanel. “And with Martin, of course, there was this immediate connection because of his deep understanding of that region.”
Designer Martin Brudnizki
To bring the hotel into the contemporary era, Brudnizki put his own twist on things. “We made sure that the colors were intense: blues and yellows and pinks,” he says, and details like caning on bedside tables, instead of chairs. “When you use materials somewhere else, it becomes unexpected and a little bit of a surprise.”
“It was important to us that there was the joyful aspect of the hotel,” Gherib says. He and Brudnizki’s team collaborated on the choice of materials, layering fabrics, colors, and patterns from an initial image. “There’s a lot of hard work, like looking for materials and sampling and trying it on site, asking how does it look in the morning, how does it look in the afternoon, how does it look in the sunshine?” Gherib says.
A view of the Portofino harbor toward Villa Beatrice, a private villa that is part of the Splendido.
A sense of place was the guiding principle for both Belmond and Brudnizki. “It feels better, but it’s still the Splendido,” Brudnizki says. “I think that’s the key—that people walk in and they feel like they’re still in that space.”
And as for that famous bar? The one that will be all over Instagram? It now has a back wall of black onyx that will take over once the sun has set.
“You can click a switch and it glows,” he says. “The bar is a beautiful little jewel box.”
This story originally appeared in the Summer 2025 issue of Elle Decor. SUBSCRIBE
