Italy - 3
It's always exhilarating – or does one say amazing or like a dream? - to be back at Minerva, Orient Express, Rome, Arsenale's first grand hotel. Its story goes back to 1620 ,when it was built for the Portuguese Fonseca family. Fast forward and it’s now part of Paolo Barletta’s ever-sprawling Arsenale empire. Minerva was its first hotel to open: it’s a brilliant and theatrical conversion, which allowed flamboyant designer Hugo Toro to explode on the stage of style (among his latest manifestations is Gigi, by Paris Society at the re-opened Delano on Miami Beach), Here at Minerva, Girlahead’s favourite suite is #601, overlooking the Parthenon and it ‘works’. It’s sized right, and the curved mustard sofa with inbuilt sockets and the mustard satin sleep-shades in their own same-coloured snooze bag are long-time mementoes.
At Minerva, Filip Boyen’s now back in charge and very much king of the castle. That night he hosted dinner up on the rooftop – see above. Absolutely brilliant. A clear night, great food, pasta to dream about, and Italian service. What more could one want? Well, stories and anecdotes abounded, from Adam and Forest, fresh from New York, and two divine Rome-based Orient Express ambassadors plus a Belgian (Mr B) and a Brit (Girlahead).
On tomorrow, exactly on the dictated dot, Giirlahead group of three were picked up at Minerva by a Dolce Vita Orient Express car from them, and taken to board the train. And the story began - ahat a story it was to be. There was a lineup of people in welcome, led by Andrea and another Marco, two of the most thoughtful of all the many people on board. See below. There were 23 staff travelling with us, to nanny and look after a disparate and adventurous casserole of international cavaliers, the most dominant ingredient being two couples from a Finnish village (there was one other party of four but it hailed from Hong Kong, South Dakota, Scotland and Yorkshire). We started out as a total of 43 passengers, known as guests. We were to lose seven of them along the way, intentionally, to get off in Venice for the Biennale (such a shame, as each one of those art-loving departeds was fascinating, especially the Hongkonger and the two Israelis).
That left 36 on board. The train can manage 68, but it would be quite crowded. This number was perfect, as people could move around and get to know everybody. By the end of the three days on board, indeed, the house party had gelled and it was generally agreed that a two-nighter meant it was such a shame that there wasn't more time to get to know some of them, especially two of a French trio if their interpreter (their daughter and, at early 30s, youngest guest this time) was not in earshot..
Marco Girotto, GM of the entire train operation of Orient Express and a long-time ruler of the rails, had earlier told Girlahead that the complexity of running trains is all absorbing. There's the structural side, there are logistics, and then there's customer service. Although he wasn’t physically going to be on this particular journey he was, thanks to modern communications, with it remotely all the way. There was a perception, for instance, that when Wifi went down for 90 minutes it was restored by Marco from afar, helped, onboard, by a couple of athletic film-star looks staff in must-be Italian navy polo-shirt uniforms who could possibly have been the train drivers….
