Issimo - Il Pellicano Group

“I grew up in hospitality, and I thought that was the last thing on earth I wanted to do,” she says, laughing. After studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, Sciò took on what she thought would be a single design project for Il Pellicano, but her meticulous eye and desire to create a dynamic brand quickly led her from interior design to improving the hotel’s graphics.

With interiors by Michele Bonan, who also oversaw the Portrait Hotels in Florence and Rome, the 73 suites feature Bonan’s signature sumptuous materials, like Carrara marble, leather accents and color palettes of vermillion and green. His love of books plays a central theme throughout the hotel, with more than 2,000 volumes on art, fashion, history and design available to peruse in nearly all of the public spaces and the individual guest quarters.

“There was a kind of dissonance between the graphics and the interiors. Once I resolved that, I thought ‘the uniforms look too much like they’re from the 80s,’” she recalls. From there, Sciò found herself revamping everything from the hotel’s music to its front office staff. “I had no idea what I was doing, I learned so much by being on the spot,” she says.

“Hospitality is such a great world, because there's so many points of expression.” That passion for expression led Sciò to become the CEO and creative director for thePellicano Group’s four Italian hotels: Hotel Il Pellicano, in Porto Ercole; La Posta Vecchia Hotel in Ladispoli; Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa in Ischia; and the recently acquired La Suvera, in the Tuscan countryside. In 2020, she launched ISSIMO, a platform that allows guests to purchase the artisanal and uber chic products on view throughout the hotels.“I'm trying to go under the skin of Italy. Italy is a lot more than the clichés of pizza and gelato. I’m interested in revealing this very sophisticated country that has lots of layers and lots to be discovered,” she says. “Everyone travels to the major art cities, the Amalfi Coast and now Sicily's booming, but there are so many incredible characters and places that are off the beaten track.”

Taken together, Sciò says, the collections showcase her favorite aspects of Italian lifestyle: an appreciation for beauty, and a slow tempo to revel in it. “We're very spoiled as Italians, because we grow up surrounded by so much beauty. Italian living is certainly slower and more quality-driven. It's about enjoying moments: enjoying a coffee, enjoying a meal, enjoying the sun,” she says.

On ISSIMO, Sciò showcases her latest artisanal finds—small leather pochettes from an independent leatherworker outside of Florence; a perfectly buttery set of cashmere pants and sweater—but also celebrates famous Italian designers like Gaetano Pesce and Giò Ponti. “All of our hotels are decorated simply, but with high quality materials. Everything is stripped down to its essence. Good design doesn’t need to scream and yell, and it's not overly flashy,” she says. “Good design is about letting the place talk.” Sciò’s quest to offer her property’s quietly elegant comforts to guests led her to collaborate with Frette.

The project yielded sumptuous striped cotton beach towels, a tribute to the hotel group’s three seaside properties. Bed linens reflect the individual hotels’ particular aesthetics. For Il Pellicano, that means sheets with whimsical scallop embroidery and the hotel’s stylized pelican logo; Mezzatorre’s have golden embroidery, inspired by the hotel’s 16th-century watchtower overlooking Naples, and La Posta Vecchia features embroidered elongated diamonds, referencing ancient Rome and rendered in terra cotta stitching. All of the details, so precisely rendered, encourage guests to savor their environment, she says. “I think when people come here, they really drop off their phones, which is great, because slow living and slow travel is so important right now,” she says. “I think there's a beauty about taking time and appreciating moments, and we're really good at that.”