Ronnie Kessel is motor racing royalty. He is still the youngest person to drive a Ferrari in a competitive race (at 16), and today you will find him racing classic cars. But the 38-year-old also runs Kessel Auto in Switzerland, an organisation that sells and services new Ferraris as the famous Italian marque’s official dealer in the country, runs a racing team on the GT circuit – which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans – and also restores old vehicles.
If that wasn’t enough in terms of motoring credentials, he is the son of Loris Kessel, a Swiss F1 driver who competed in the ’70s with the likes of Mario Andretti, Jacky Ickx, Clay Regazzoni and James Hunt. Ronnie’s Secret Tip is a stay in an old family home in the Alps, now an atmospheric rental property.
La Rösa in the Val Poschiavo region of the Swiss Alps, just a few kilometres from St Moritz, is a small village that I grew up in. It has only 38 families living there, most not for the whole year round, just the summer. The name means “the rose”, and I assume this village was given its name because it is like beautiful little wildflower, and it gets a lot of sunlight – a little jewel in the Alps.
Here there is a house known as Stazione della Posta, which used to be in my family – our family lived in three places in the valley. My father used to be a farmer, like his father, before his career in motor racing and his move to Lugano. As a child, he would bring the cows in from the field to spend the night in the house downstairs. It’s a big place – the biggest in the village.
The house has been preserved in the style of the early 20th century, with wood panelling and old furniture, stoves, telephones and the like. It gives you the opportunity to go back in time to the ’30s and ’40s, but with all the comfort you need to have a great stay. It has electricity and water and all the facilities you require, but the experience is one of how people used to work and live in the past. I call this place an example of “raw luxury”.
Today, it belongs to another local family, the Engelhorns, who also organise the Bernina Gran Turismo classic car hill climb every year. About 10 years ago they converted it beautifully – it was very run down and old – and put it at the disposal of the community, to give something to the region and bring back such a wonderful place to be habitable. They don’t actually live here, but instead rent it out privately, and people book it for short or long stays, sometimes just for one evening, for a celebration like a birthday, for example.
Also, in the summer we get a lot of car enthusiasts in the region, driving on the roads over the passes. In fact, the Bernina Gran Turismo hill climb starts from just outside Stazione della Posta. So, if you were a group of car owners and wanted to come here with 15 cars and park them outside and stay for a couple of days, it’s ideal.
Before cars were allowed into this area in the 1920s, this house was always at the centre of attention, welcoming visitors who came with horses and carrozzas – carriages. Travellers could stay here, and their horses could sleep inside and then they would go on up to the Bernina Pass and the Engadin region. It was a stop-off place for the night, like an inn. And then when my father was younger, it was a place for farmers.
Whenever I come here, I feel like I am coming home. This is home for me. Since I was two months old, I spent all summers and winters here in this village, before we even had electricity and warm water. My mother used to heat up big metal containers of water on the fire to give me a bath and clean me as a baby. My grandmother still lives nearby – she’s going to turn 90 next year. She spends three months during the summer in La Rösa, just down the road from Stazione della Posta.
Today, the house has about 10 bedrooms, as well as several big communal rooms, and a separate building that can host dinners and gatherings, too – by its side and connected to it (Sala Leonardo da Vinci). You can hire a cook to cater for you. It’s in the perfect location, not too far from Italy, not too far from Germany and not too far from any place in Switzerland. And, of course, it’s very close to St Moritz. So why not spend the night here on your way up to St Moritz, just like the travellers did in the past, and experience something truly unique?
For rental enquires for Stazione della Posta, email ana.engelhorn@bernina-granturismo.com
Peter Howarth has been the style director of British GQ and the editor of Arena, British Esquire and Man About Town. He is the co-founder and CEO of London creative agency SHOW and managing director of Secret Trips.
