Fiume is truly beautiful. Sad, tired, worn out, but still intriguing and fascinating, despite every corner, every alley, every forgotten or ignored building crying out for attention and help. To tell the truth, some, mainly used as restaurants/trattorias/fast-food, shops or offices, have been recovered and revalued. Many others, however, silently await their turn, if it ever comes. As you pass by them, it is difficult to imagine them teeming with people circulating in their atriums, stopping to chat or read the newspaper in the elegant cafés, getting drunk on the Fiume air and not wanting to leave. In fact, this is exactly how the capital of the Kvarner region presented itself starting from the second half of the 19th century, when it experienced a real boom, in every sense. It was a refined, worldly and cosmopolitan city, welcoming and lively.

The blossoming of the hotel industry

With the economic and political upsurge of the 50s and 60s and the railway connection between Rijeka and Ljubljana, built by the Austrian Imperial Royal Privileged Southern Railway Company and opened for service on 25 June 1873, as well as the completion of the Budapest-Zagreb-Rijeka connection in the same year (23 October), the conditions for the accelerated growth of the Rijeka economy were created. The strengthening of the economy also led to a greater demand for accommodation capacity, so much so that by the end of the century the capital of Kvarner boasted as many as 22 hotels. Among them, the first to be used as a hotel was the Lloyd, today located in the current Republic Square (and hosting the Brasserie As restaurant on the ground floor), at the time Adamich Square, or Dante Square, whose owners were the brothers Andrija and Dragomir Bakarčić, both lawyers, illegitimate sons of the enterprising merchant and shipowner Josip Bakarčić (who at the time already owned 17 ships) and of a certain Marija Jurandić, who, in the same year, decided to raise two more floors above the two existing ones of the old building, the year of construction of which is unknown. The project, designed by Giovanni Baccarcich, who had already conceived the building that today houses the municipal company Energo (in Erazmo Barčić Street), was completed the following year, in 1874. Although the primary function of the building was, as it is today, commercial-residential, starting in 74, the owners having rented some rooms, it also acquired a restaurant function. The brothers were members of the Party of Rights, in strong opposition to the autonomists of Rijeka at the time, so it is not surprising that, in 1882 (the presumed year of the hotel's inauguration), they hired the architects Julije Stanisavljević and Giacomo Mattich to enlarge the openings. He worked in the Sušak district and was a disciplined follower of the neo-Renaissance who had previously designed the facade of the elementary school in the Brajdica area (Centar, 1886), as well as two sumptuous neo-Renaissance villas for the Ružić family in Piramide. Even from the context of the postcards depicting it, it is clear that it was one of the first buildings in the city adapted for a hotel and that it was managed by several owners, such as Giuseppina and Guglielmo Gedlicka (1889-1991), Carl Exner (1897-1910), Ugo Navarro (1912-1915) and, after the First World War, R. Ossoinack and A. Mini.

Curiosity

In 1919, after Gabriele D'Annunzio arrived in Fiume, his supporters also arrived in the city, including Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, founder of Futurism, who stayed at the Lloyd Hotel. To the poet Fiume appeared to be a fervent city, animated by a "frantic love for Italy", by a "frightening patriotic ardour", enlivened by joy, music and parades that transformed into city festivals, where long ranks of Arditi, legionaries and girls, mad "with joy", paraded arm in arm. Faced with that spontaneous collective euphoria, Marinetti sent a telegram to the editorial staff of the daily newspaper "Roma Futurista", the official organ of the Futurist Political Party directed by Mario Carli, which read: "I am in Fiume after a fantastic march. In full Futurism! Everything, everything for the NEW Italy! Fiume is divine! It deserves everything!" and, in the diary pages that he regularly wrote (21-29 September) he also reported the name of the Lloyd hotel.

Architecture

The building is of classicist type and, after the elevation, simple flat decorative elements were added. The central part of the eastern facade is accentuated by a forepart and a portal flanked by two pilasters, with Doric capitals to which brackets were added that support the balcony on the first floor. There is also one on the second floor, but it is smaller in size. Another renovation was carried out in 1882 when, as already mentioned, the openings on the ground floor were transformed from arcades to rectangular ones. The building was adapted after the Second World War and the last intervention was made in 2012, when the roof and the facade were repaired. The palace is a valuable example of Rijeka's historicist architecture.

Ornella Sciuca
Source: The Voice of the People – 06/02/2022