On the Spanish island, Wonderland checks into the hotel made to escape to a different era.
Nestled on the eastern side of the island, in a corner so ingrained in Italian culture you’d think you accidentally boarded a plane to Naples, is Ibiza’s Amalfi Coast-inspired getaway: the Mongibello Hotel.
When you hear Ibiza, you probably think of a lads holiday, which my 8AM flight proved was more than just a stereotype with rows of bachelors emptying out the stock of liquor and other alcoholic beverages on offer. You might also think party city, with the likes of Martin Garrix, David Guetta, Diplo and all sorts of world-class DJs plastered on rows of banners and billboards greeting you upon leaving the airport. The atmosphere is practically begging you to have a good time.
But the idea of a good time isn’t so cookie-cutter. And when one spends three days in Ibiza, which happens to be the most anomalously rain-drenched period of the year, with weather so far removed from the idyllic sunshine and clear skies one expects from the island that even the locals cannot recall as of recent memory a worse meteorological time, one has to change their pre-determined idea of a good time.
Naturally, what was meant to be the warm-welcoming backdrop to our vacation quickly became the main character. The Mongibello Hotel is filled with nooks waiting to be explored, crannies to stumble into, and a decor to get lost within. In many ways, the hotel acts as a time capsule. Head to the outdoor pool, coloured in fantastic hues of blue and white, and let yourself be transported to 1960s Sicily. In the blacked out dining area though, you’ll find yourself lost in a world far removed from the notion of time, all aided by its wistful selections of wine and divinely curated menu. Throughout the corridors, whether on your way to the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet or to the pool table for a friendly face-off, you’ll find yourself flipping through pages of books chronicling “La Dolce Vita” or vinyls by Gianni Morandi.
But Mongibello is hardly a simple hotelerie story. At its core is the man behind the project: Diego Calvo. An Ibizan native, Calvo left his home to be trained by thecrème de la crème – think the Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton groups. But home really is where the heart is – or in Calvo’s case, heart is where the home is – and the soon-to-be entrepreneur packed his bags to leave mainland Europe, returning to the island. One scouted-and-bought piece of land later, and the rest is history.
“There is so much soul in Ibiza,” the flamboyant Calvo, armed with high-wasted, ‘70s style jeans and a tucked-in button up which shows off his cowboy-like statement belt buckle, tells me over a bespoke Mongibello cocktail. His love of the island is so ingrained throughout the hotel, that even the suites are named after local legends. Mine? Massimo Lucarini, a once-visitor who fell in love and founded fine dining experience Las Dos Lunas with his partner Almudena Robles.
If anything, the Mongibello Hotel is only one of the edifices built out of Calvo’s love of Ibiza. The Concept Group, founded by Calvo over a decade ago, holds an eclectic portfolio of hotels, including Mongibello, as well as Romeo’s, Cubanito, Venice Bay, and more, all uniquely designed with his flair for the aesthetics. It’s no wonder then that some of his most famous guests include The Rolling Stones, who actually filmed a music video at one of the locations, as well as the reigning queen of vacationing Dua Lipa.
All images courtesy of Mongibello Hotel
