LA PERLA, CORVARA
A treasure trove in the Dolomites
Anni and Ernesto and their three sons. The Costa Family. Days pass, and memories fill the rooms, halls, restaurants, every nook and cranny. Music fills the air. International guests. The Sassongher, just one of the many centres of the world.
La Perla. Legend has it that Ernesto Costa plucked the name out of the 1956 Rimini Yellow Pages which, for some obscure reason, was there in Corvara’s Town Hall. The casa which was being built needed a name, after all. What’s odd is that Ernesto went for an Italian, and not a German, name. Language, eh, isn’t it mysterious? And we’re in a Ladin region, to boot. An apocryphal version says the doorman of the Town Hall suggested the name. Regardless, this was the start of a beautiful story. A man’s initiative and the will of a woman. Or turning it upside down, Anni’s initiative and Ernesto’s will. At the end of the day, the result is the same. Now, picture the chairlifts of a bygone time, the flurries of snow during winter – artificial snow wasn’t necessary back then – and the indomitable will of leaving behind a war which had torn apart the world. How? By building something good, beautiful, positive. It’s hard to think we’re facing another human tragedy today. Pure folly. Only women and men armed with good intentions can build something which lasts in time, something positive. Everything else will slip into madness, filthy selfishness corroborated by short-term interests, so petty and childish they shouldn’t affect us. But they do.
The Casa grows, so do the children. Problems and good moments come and go. Joie the vivre abounds. Just think about the old Club 54 – those were some wild nights! Joie the vivre which the guests can perceive and, by visiting us so often, expand. Looking back at the past may seem weird – so many years have gone by! – but nostalgia and poetry come together. They may move you to tears but that’s life, old chum, and it makes it worth living. Right to the very end, never backing away from always questioning it and yourself, being self-critical, and look at which path we, as a community, are walking on. What will the future be like? Determined by waste and consuming more energy than we need, or shaped by values which have made this part of Italy so unique in the world? We don’t need a UNESCO title to know our area believes in its heritage. A place to share, selflessly, rather than turning it into an enclave dominated by blind consumerism. We want our story to continue, one season after the other. This is our Casa, our home, and its people. What you see is what you get. La Perla, a pearl in the treasure trove that are the Dolomites. A pearl which shines thanks to the guests who, season after season, come back.