History
Palazzo Margherita stands in Bernalda, the town in southern Italy where Francis Coppola’s grandfather, Agostino, was born and which he always called “Bernalda bella.”
The surrounding countryside was settled by the Greeks before the Roman era and is part of Magna Graecia, where thriving local agriculture produces sumptuous fruits and vegetables, as well as Aglianico grapes for the wines of the same name.
Nestled between the ancient cities of Metapontum and Matera, the area is rich with history, including the haunting cave dwellings of the Sassi di Matera, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Matera’s recognition as a European Capital of Culture. Built by the Margherita family in the mid-1800s, the Palazzo was purchased by Francis in 2004.
Décor
Francis Coppola spent more than six years restoring Palazzo Margherita with the acclaimed designer Jacques Grange, and opened it as a hotel in 2012. He wanted a place his children would come back to, so he brought the whole family in to contribute ideas to the design, and that sense of family is what the Palazzo runs on.
Inside, historic finishes sit beside details that feel collected rather than staged. The hand-painted fresco vaulted ceilings were kept and restored, one with Cupid and Psyche overhead; the original marble floors were lifted and relaid; and the tilework runs rich and patterned underfoot.
Grange designed some of the tiles and furniture himself, including the Francis suite, done in a North African style to honor Francis’s Tunisian-born grandmother.
