Dea Della Salute Hotel

A surprizing potpourri of contrasts at the Hotel Dea della Salute in the seaside town of Bellaria-Igea Marina. We arrived at about 7.30 pm. The owner of the hotel, a large, blustering man informed us in a voice loud enough to be heard a block away that he could not help us with our luggage, and that, although the hotel had a restaurant, as we had not "asked ahead of time" to dine, we had to eat only what they gave us, and if we had any dietary needs, too bad. We were exhausted after a long drive, and there was no other restaurant nearby, so we agreed. Except for one table of four men, the dining room was empty. But we were not allowed to enter it right away. We were instructed to go to our room, wait 15 minutes, and then return, which we did. The owner bounced around the dining room and then bellowed that we could take our places. The same four men were still there, eating, so we never did understand what had changed. The photos found on internet show a nice three-star hotel, simple and streamlined. This is quite misleading. At least the place is clean enough, and they seem to be quite careful about Covid (although, what can we say about some of them wearing masks under the nose??). But the hotel looks as if they have been performing one patch-up job after the next, attempting to "modernize" a hotel reminiscient of a 1970s pensione complete with plastic flowers and ancient, worn out hallway carpeting. We learned later that there are some "new" bedrooms, but we obviously got a more "historic" room. The floor was made of three different types of old tiles that slanted dizzyingly in different directions, and there was nowhere to plug in a phone. The sliding door to the bathroom got stuck twice and almost fell off of its track. The bathroom light over the plastic mirror was broken. The matresses were floppy and uncomfortable. But there was a flat-screen tv! On the other hand, a lovely surprise was the food. The mother of the hotel owner is the cook, and everything she prepared was absolutely delicious. This woman knows how to make fresh pasta with excellent sauce, fish, sweets... you name it. All of it light and tasty. And the owner, who before had been outlandish, overbearing and loud, suddenly became a pefect host, delighting in the fact that we loved the food. (He did, however, charge for a full bottle of wine when only one of us asked for a single glass...)... Breakfast was more cakes and pastries made by la Signora, all excellent. Marred only by the terrible automatic-machine-coffee. Hotel Dea della Salute. One of the more bizarre experiences we've had in a long time. --------- Un sorprendente pot-pourri di contrasti all'Hotel Dea della Salute nella località balneare di Bellaria-Igea Marina. Siamo arrivati ​​verso le 19:30. Il proprietario dell'hotel, un uomo grosso e spavaldo, ci informò con una voce abbastanza alta da essere udita a un isolato di distanza che non poteva aiutarci con i bagagli e che, sebbene l'hotel a