To construct the hotel they used items including mines and charges of dynamite to excavate the rock, and the overall operation profoundly changed the landscape of the area, as a vast garden was built around the buildings.

[7] Over the next two decades, the hotel, aided by the total disinterest of the owners and the negligence of the janitors, was gradually stripped of many period pieces of furniture (some of enormous value), of which only a part was saved.

Presumably around the 1980s (but there is a lack of reliable sources on this) the prefabricated mansard implanted in 1947 was replaced by a sturdier masonry roof covered with bituminous sheathing and copper foil (or similar material), at as of 2025 still present today.

[13] On this front one can recognise the basement, marked by walls made of bare stone limestonea and large circular windows with grilles, which houses the rooms reserved for staff (kitchens, laundries, dormitories, etc.).

In the centre of the rear façade is a majestic stone portico, leaning towards the Varese valley, which supports the ballroom and under which is the secondary entrance to the building.

According to the original plan, this structure was to have been the arrival station of the funicular, but the idea was later abandoned due to the excessive noise of the engines.

[14] Noteworthy are the decorations carved in stone and cement, the elaborate wrought-iron railings and the doccioni in the shape of a dragon, the work of Alessandro Mazzucotelli and, lastly, the imposing brick vaulting, details that give the portico a mysterious 'Gothic' appearance.