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Saint-Tropez
Welcome to La Ponche Hôtel Restaurant · Saint Tropez
Reopening 15th April 2022
New and fresh winds are blowing over the hotel.
After eight months of renovation, the legendary La Ponche hotel, in the historic heart of Saint-Tropez, will be able to unveil its new clothes. Overlooking the small Ponche beach, this 21-room hotel (including 5 suites) has been given a makeover under the direction of Italian interior designer Fabrizio Casiraghi. The hotel La Ponche belongs to the iconic hotels of the Riviera, it welcomed Françoise Sagan, Brigitte Bardot, Gunther Sachs, Romy Schneider, Michel Piccoli, Boris Vian, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir...What was a family business with Simone Duckstein, is going to continue this same dynamic since two discreet families (Hubert and Nicolas Saltiel with Georges Saier) - actors in the hotel business - are taking over...
The management of this five-star hotel - from now on open all year round - will be entrusted to Audrey Brémond, a native of the Tropez, with chef Thomas Danigo (the Galanga, Monsieur George Hotel, Paris) at her side. On the program: summer rooms, a sunny table, a bar to reconnect with the past (the Saint Germain des Prés), and a spa signed the Tiger Yoga Club...
From there Fabrizio Casiraghi had only to advance strong of this direction. Above all, not to touch the structures, to advance without breaking too much, to respect the soul of the place. Find a common thread (the paintings and their lighting) and keep the breath of the 21 rooms (from 17 to 45m2). "This does not make it a hotel, Fabrizio says, but a vacation home by the sea. From the reception, the tone of the house is set. It will be both Provencal and summery: black and white marble checkerboard floor, ivory wall, concierge, luggage room and reception with traditional round brass keys. It will access the veranda and its zenithal lighting inciting to meet there in company of the library and the gaming table (chess and backgammon).
More present than ever, the legendary terrace will have been planted. From breakfast on, it will maintain the myth but also a cheerful catering until late in the evening. On the side, a new feature: a dining room overlooking the sea. It can be privatized as a table d'hôtes, a way of announcing the intimate dimension of the hotel (dark walnut parquet) and artistic (frescoes on the walls and ceiling).
There are 21 rooms (including 5 suites)
The hotel with the touch of Fabrizio Casiraghi
The rooms will be treated with lightness to remain of the spirit of the beginnings when the walls were whitewashed and the beds covered with fresh and flowery cretonne. Today, here is an ivory off-white, dark-stained American walnut woodwork, glossy varnish. The floor tiles are on the ground, the paintings here and there: works of Jacques Cordier, first husband of Simone Duckstein; original lithographs of Picasso. Artistic collaborations by Victor Levai (ceramic frames), Elvira Solana (fresco); fabrics by Loro Piana and Pierre Frey (green, orange, yellow). The ultimate room is room 8, by Romy Schneider and Daniel Biasini. The terrace is as large as the room, overlooking the roofs of Saint-Tropez, the citadel, the bell tower and the sea. All of the 21 5-star rooms (including 5 suites) are named after illustrious visitors. A new feature is the Simone Duckstein room, to seal the bonds of memory.
He regularly stayed in Ramatuelle, which allowed him a little distance and enough emotion.
In fact," he says, "when I get attached to a place like La Ponche, I think of one thing: to tell a story. And here it is. It's about a man in his forties, living in Paris, in the 16th or 8th district.
He inherits his grandmother's house. So he's going to make it a vacation home for his friends.
He will hunt here and there for objects, armchairs, lights, without any ulterior motive. Just thinking about the South, the idleness, the Dolce Vita. A bit of Capri, Positano. But above all Saint-Tropez. The Pompidou years, the 60s, the sea, the vacations. Each object I choose is the result of a long and complex reflection, because the house speaks with them. In the rooms, there won't be much but one or two paintings and above all what we like at the end of the day: a good shower, a good soap, a nice towel".
www.fabriziocasiraghi.com
Gallery
A table of sunshine under the vista of Thomas Danigo
Today's young chefs already have a long career behind them. At 29, Thomas Danigo has the background of an old hand. This Parisian by birth has already won many awards in professional competitions, and has worked at major addresses such as the Grand Monarque, in Chartes (one Michelin star) and, above all, for seven years with Alain Pégouret (a true disciple of Joël Robuchon) at the Laurent restaurant, in Paris (one star). In other words, he learned the rigors of the great restaurant classics. All the better to depart from them and find his own way. This calm and diligent chef freed himself from these powerful years by discovering a little more free style during his passage at the Sergent Recruteur, in Paris, still with Alain Pégouret before being successfully entrusted with the kitchens of the Galanga, at the Monsieur George Hotel, in Paris, by Nicolas Saltiel.
This young modern chef has learned from his many trips around the world to deliver at La Ponche, a soothing Mediterranean menu focused on local vegetables, daily fish, and market vibrations. "No fuss, no overdone dishes, but a cuisine focused on products and taste. Fresh pea gazpacho, grilled lobster, bouillabaisse; dishes of the day in the charcoal oven and simple desserts, also worked in the sense of the product (seasonal fruits)... At lunch, the terrace will open to the cult dishes of the house, while in the evening, the tables will be covered and the menu expanded with more personal dishes of Thomas Danigo. Also noteworthy is a refreshing finger food menu at the bar as well as room service all night long, in keeping with the hotel's five stars.
Spa
With eight years of experience in Paris, the Tiger Yoga Club (Le Tigre Chaillot,
Le Tigre Rive Gauche, Hotel Monsieur George, Le Tigre Hotel Normandy Deauville...) will provide treatments adapted to the spirit of the vacations: morning yoga on the deck facing the sea. And afterwards, yoga classes on request, treatments, massages as an invitation to let go at the end of the day. Good news for Tiger Yoga Club regulars, masseuse Iris Vola (Iyengar Yoga, Ayruvedic, Balinese, Lomi-Lomi, Swedish massage...) will be "in residence" for the whole summer. In the spa, at the disposal of the customers: fitness bike, carpet, reinforcements...
The best way to judge the incarnation of a palace hotel is its bar. That's why the highlights of the Hotel La Ponche will be played out in this venue, which is now also open to the outside world on a small street behind it. And for good reason, the origin of the hotel's success had a name: the Saint Germain des Prés-La Ponche with Boris Vian's band who, between two trumpet blasts, liked to go behind the bar to serve his friends. The "Saint Germain des Prés" is back with a special attention of Fabrizio Casiraghi. He used a wall of mirrors behind the bar with shelves and backlighting on the bottles; American walnut wood ceilings, black and white checkerboard tiles, fireplace, wrought iron coffee tables with glass tops; super comfortable armchairs with free standing: they can be moved, like the poufs. All this to give again at all hours of the day and sometimes late at night, this atmosphere of the beginnings, the dolce vita, the big card of cocktails with the eternal standards, private concerts, and the famous last glass for the nights without end...
The bar,
all at Saint Germain des Prés !
Valuable Assets
Hotel La Ponche Saint-Tropez
Press Book ENG
Dossier de Presse FR
Presentation