A new five-star hotel featuring 60 high-end residences will be built on the Ventimiglia waterfront overlooking the marina as part of the Italian city’s port redevelopment strategy.

Marina Development Corporation (MDC) this week presented the final layout of Borgo del Forte. It is the flagship operation of Marina di Ventimiglia, an urban regeneration project to create a new tourist destination on the seafront of the city on the western Ligurian coast, with an international reach but with an Italian vocation.

The Borgo del Forte residential-hotel complex will consist of a five-star hotel with 70 rooms, while the residential component will include 60 high-end apartments with terraces overlooking the city’s tourist port, with the possibility of entrusting management to the hotel structure.

Due to a reduction of the overall volumes compared to the original project, over 9,000 cubic metres less, the 70-room hotel will be built in a more exclusive space and totally surrounded by greenery, completing the tourist offer of the recently redeveloped port area. According to MDC, several Italian and international brands have already expressed interest in managing the facility.

“In the last two years, a great deal of dialogue has been done with local and regional authorities aimed at continuous improvement of the project, mainly with respect to landscape-environmental and hydrogeological issues,” says Giuseppe Noto, CEO of MDC.

“The new layout reflects these intense interactions by combining the naturalistic aspects typical of the Ligurian landscape, the charm of the upper city with the new port and the innate elegance of Italian design through the creation of a new destination capable of responding to the needs of the modern tourist. Borgo del Forte contributes to the urban regeneration of Ventimiglia across the board, recovering abandoned areas such as the waterfront and Campasso for virtuous uses such as tourism, sport and education for the benefit of the territory, citizens and employment.”

The €200 million new development project surrounding Ventimiglia marina

The redevelopment of the waterfront is part of a wider regeneration program of the Ventimiglia marina which will involve a total area of 57,000 m2. The project, which envisages a total investment of €200 million by the BDF fund, managed by Namira sgr and of which MDC is advisor, also includes the construction of the La Rocca restaurant to the west of the residential-hotel complex, with works started in October 2022, and Club Italia, which will transform Piazza Costituente into a new restaurant scene.

Meanwhile, Borgo del Forte Campus will be built in the former Campasso railway station, 30,000 m2 in size, behind the green area that stands at the mouth of the river Nervia. It will be a multi-purpose large international educational-sports and leisure campus for citizens and tourists, and feature an indoor swimming pool, a fully equipped gym, and tennis courts.

A multi-level building will be built next to the sports centre to house an international school.

To the south, the dissused train depot will be converted into a congress centre, with a conference room, exhibition-fair area, laboratories and offices, all overlooking a large green park.

In terms of environmental impact, Marina di Ventimiglia complies with the general objectives of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the minimum requirements for nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB), including maximum efficiency in the management of energy, water, materials, waste and the reduction of air and noise pollution.

Brining new life, and money, to the city of Ventimiglia

According to MDC, the large marina regeneration project will contribute significantly to the development of the area and its social fabric. Analysis by Nomisma shows that investment in works will deliver over €540 million in benefits to the community. In addition, around 300 people will be employed in the operational phase alone.

The new marina itself, Cala del Forte, was opened in October 2020. The new port features 178 berths from 6.5 to 70 meters in length, 577 parking spaces, 15,000 m2 of promenades and gardens, and 35 businesses including restaurants, bars, offices and boat services. Meanwhile, the 2,700 m² shipyard, being run by Cantieri di Imperia, has hauling and launching capacity for yachts up to 30 metres long.

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