Poetic Hotel: Abandoned Padua Hotel Transformed into Inaccessible Art Installation

Artist Simone Berno has transformed an abandoned hotel in Padua, Italy, into the Poetic Hotel, an art installation that remains permanently inaccessible to the public. The hotel, originally a 1950s inn that became a hotel in the 1980s, was closed in 1997 and left untouched for over two decades. In December 2019, it reopened not as a functioning hotel but as a site-specific artwork. Berno invited about thirty artists to create paintings, sculptures, photographs, poetry, and performances within the decaying rooms, preserving the original furniture and objects. The rooms are sealed to prevent visitors from altering the internal microclimate that developed during 23 years of abandonment. The project's manifesto states it is only viewable online, a prescient quarantine measure. The hotel will eventually be demolished, destroying the entire collection of works. Berno has an agreement with the owner to wait for the building's natural deterioration until demolition is necessary. For now, the Poetic Hotel can only be experienced through video and photos on its website and social media channels. The first invited artists were from the Mep (Movimento per l'Emancipazione della Poesia), who covered an entire room with poetry on walls, floor, bed, pillows, wardrobe, and ceiling.