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LUGGAGE LABELS COLLECTION
In the lobby of Feeling Hotel Luise you can admire the unusual exhibition of 350 baggage labels, dating back from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1960's, belonging to the more than 1,800 piece collection lovingly put together over time.
The labels come from all the world. Some are precious luggage labels from the hotels of Lake Garda and Riva del Garda.
Hereinafter a comment on our exhibition by Duccio Canestrini, travel and journey antropologist and famous writer, among his works; Turistario, Trofei di viaggio and Andare a quel paese.
"It's a question of labelling
Plenty of baggage: trunks, hatboxes, luggage. It was servants work - they were loaded by drivers and carried around by the hotel's young porters. And when checking-out they were labelled with the hotel name - partly to avoid confusion and partly to show off. That is to say that baggage was the holder of travel memories.
The baggage labels are therefore prestigious icons, proof, advertising and reference. The skilled eye of the hotel porter was able to understand lots of things just by looking at the number, quality and location of the labels on the baggage. Between the nineteenth and the twentieth century these stickers turned into refined logos, graphic art, jewels, miniature posters. They show the hotel name and logo, efficient porters, typical landscapes, important monuments cited in Baedeker guide books.
They represent, if not exactly the genius loci of the country visited, but at least its most famous sightseeing landmarks and its bests hotels, often characterised by impressive names. This is why these labels have a story to tell. Apart from colour and graphics, which mirror the grand-hotel style, they represent a real cross-section of travel history, just before popularization and, consequently, standardization of travel.
The labels are not only refined images but anthropologic signs of tourism and its world because they refer to the ritual character of every check-in and check-out".
