THE HOTELS ISSUE DEPARTURES

Italian artist Alex Folla’s fresco in the foyer of Galleria Vik Milano.

Building an Empire With Galleria Vik Milano, the art- loving couple behind some of South America’s most 27

COURTESY VIK RETREATS RETREATS VIK COURTESY stylish hotels takes on the Old World. by Tarajia Morrell The second-floor Vikissimo restaurant offers views into Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Below: A guest room designed by Spanish artist Felipe Cardeña. URBAN BOLT-HOLE URBAN

“I WAS AT a birthday party in Monaco when I got the tip,” said hotelier Alex Vik, describing the genesis of what would become Galleria Vik Milano, a raptur- ously art-filled, 90-room hotel inside a Milan landmark. “I drove to the site and knew immediately what we would do.” The property stood inside the Galle- ria Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy’s oldest shopping plaza and home to many of its iconic fashion brands. “I couldn’t find the entrance,” said Alex. “That was the first thing we needed to change,” added his wife and business partner, Carrie. The Viks have been in the hotel busi- ness for ten years, and have become known for their six stylish properties in Uruguay and Chile. College sweet- hearts, the couple, now in their six- occupied the northwestern arm of the outrageous aesthetic truly comes to THE HOTELS ISSUE HOTELS THE ties, have made their name synonymous five-story, glass-ceilinged mall, which life. The couple converted the existing with destinations in jaw-dropping land- opened shortly after its namesake hotel into suites, each with wildly dis- scapes where they offer impeccable ser- became the king of unified Italy in 1861. tinct decor—midcentury, antique, and vice, exquisite food, and their own label During the Vik’s six-month renovation, contemporary furniture plus one-of-a- of award-winning Chilean wines. They workers created a formidable entrance kind artworks and installations by local had never opened a Vik retreat outside befitting the grand locale. With their and international artists. One suite fea- South America, in a city, or in an existing usual flair for drama, the couple placed tures Uruguayan painter Eduardo Car- structure—nor had they ever built a hotel a bronze cast of Rodin’s The Thinker in dozo’s pastel-colored canvases molded with more than 23 rooms. the entryway and decorated the foyer into drapery-like shapes, juxtaposed with Milan was not in their plans. Town with a floor-to-ceiling fresco depicting original 19th-century painted ceilings. In House Galleria, the property they bought, Amazons, Titans, and other mytholog- another, an installation by street artist ical beings holding up the world. Even Felipe Cardeña consists of harlequin wall visitors accustomed to the city’s heroic hangings, upholstery, and paintings made imagery stop in their tracks. from a patchwork of chromatic textiles The hotel is also accessible from the and textures. In the hallways, artists have Galleria’s arcade, where an entry that painted directly onto the walls, creating feeds though a private courtyard leads abstract kaleidoscopic murals that usher to SPOtto, the first of two restaurants guests to and from their rooms. Here the headed by Uruguayan chef Marcelo Viks continue to define what it means to Betancourt. The Viks brought the talented “live with art,” as they like to say. Betancourt, who oversees the restaurants In buying the old hotel, the Viks also at all three Uruguayan Vik Retreats, to acquired one of Milan’s best-kept secrets:

DEPARTURES impart “our way of doing things,” accord- I Dodici Gatti, a classic pizzeria—named ing to Carrie. SPOtto is a lively tapas and for 12 legendary stray cats—nestled into wine bar, while Vikissimo, on the hotel’s the steelwork of the arcade’s roof. Every second floor, offers drinks, dancing, and night, in-the-know locals enjoy wood- food along with a view of the Galleria’s fired Neapolitan pizzas and homemade massive central dome. mozzarella—a remarkably good pairing It’s in the guest rooms, however, that with Viña Vik wines. Rooms from $534; COURTESY VIK RETREATS RETREATS VIK COURTESY 28 the Viks’ eye-popping, occasionally galleriavikmilano.com.