Hotel Il Pellicano, 1973

The hotel on the rocky coast

Il Pellicano lies near Porto Ercole, on the Monte Argentario peninsula on the Tuscan coast. The hotel was opened in 1965 by Michael Graham and Patsy Daszel, an English-American couple. They built it more as a house for friends than as a grand hotel: a villa on the rocks, with a handful of rooms and the water close at hand.

That idea still shapes the atmosphere. Il Pellicano became a regular place for people who wanted the Italian summer without the crowds of the bigger resorts.

The pool by the sea

According to the archive caption, this photograph shows the hotel's beachside pool, in August 1973. Aarons rarely went looking for the big event. He photographed places where life went well by itself, and the people who were at home there.

Il Pellicano fitted that idea exactly. Not a hotel for being seen, but a place for staying.

Tuscany instead of California

If you mostly think of Palm Springs when you think of Slim Aarons, this shows another side of his work. The Mediterranean instead of the desert, rock instead of glass. Next to Sunbathing on Capri it makes a wall that points to one coast rather than one style.

On the wall

Hotel Il Pellicano is a landscape image that needs width. It works best above a sofa, a sideboard or a long table. It suits a calm interior with wood, linen and natural tones.