Chesa Marchetta

At the heart of Sils Maria, Chesa Marchetta is an intimate 13-room retreat rooted in the culture of the Engadin. Once a much-loved village pensiun and restaurant, its restored pine-panelled interiors, local antiques, traditional craftsmanship and remarkable art collection tell the story of a place where Alpine life and creativity have intertwined for generations.

Story

Chesa Marchetta’s story is inseparable from Sils Maria. The historic buildings were acquired by the Godly family in 1947, when farmer and mountain guide Peter Godly and his family took on the restaurant and neighbouring pension. His children helped run the business, and sisters Maria and Christina Godly eventually became its custodians, turning it into a beloved local institution known for simple seasonal cooking and warm, unpretentious hospitality.

Over the decades, its tables and rooms welcomed the extraordinary creative community drawn to Sils Maria, including Gerhard Richter and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The village itself has long attracted writers, artists and thinkers, from Nietzsche and Hermann Hesse to Alberto Giacometti and David Bowie.

For Iwan and Manuela Wirth, the connection was also personal: Iwan had visited Sils since childhood and brought Manuela here on their first date. After acquiring the property, they spent four years restoring it with architect Luis Laplace, preserving its Engadin character and commissioning local craftspeople. Chesa Marchetta reopened in 2025, carrying the spirit of the old pensiun into a new chapter.

Why we selected Chesa Marchetta

A continuation of village life

Chesa Marchetta was a local restaurant and pensiun for generations. Its new incarnation deliberately preserves that intimacy, with just 13 rooms and a restaurant that remains as important to the property as the hotel itself.

Engadin craftsmanship in every detail

Local joinery, traditional sgraffito, antique Engadin furniture and even handmade lace curtains created by a Benedictine nun from St. Johann in Müstair connect the restoration directly to the craftspeople and traditions of the region.

Part of Sils Maria’s extraordinary cultural story

The hotel builds upon a remarkable local legacy of artists, writers and thinkers, with works by figures including Louise Bourgeois, Philip Guston and Nicolas Party sitting alongside artists with deep connections to the Engadin.

Food that reflects its crossroads location

The restaurant continues Maria and Christina Godly’s tradition of seasonal cooking, drawing ingredients from small regional producers and celebrating the meeting of Swiss and Italian cultures that defines this corner of the Alps.

Local life & traditions

Life in the Engadin has its own distinctive rhythm, shaped by Romansh culture, long winters and generations of mountain living. In Sils Maria, the Romansh language survives alongside traditions of woodcarving, sgraffito-decorated houses and the warm pine-panelled Stüva, historically the heart of an Engadin home.

Food reflects the valley’s position between Switzerland and Italy, with mountain cheeses and cured meats joined by ingredients from nearby Val Bregaglia and Valposchiavo. Seasonal rituals remain important too, from village festivals and horse-drawn sleighs in winter to walking between high pastures and Alpine lakes in summer.

Sils also has an unusual creative tradition. Nietzsche, Hermann Hesse, Giacometti and generations of artists and writers have found inspiration here — a legacy Chesa Marchetta continues by bringing local craft, mountain life and contemporary art under one roof.

Authentic experiences in the area

Explore the Val Fex

Journey into the largely car-free Fex Valley on foot or by traditional horse-drawn carriage, passing historic farms, forests and mountain pastures.

Walk Nietzsche’s Sils Maria

Visit Nietzsche-Haus, where the philosopher spent his summers and wrote some of his most important work, before walking through the landscapes that inspired him.

Taste the Engadin through its producers

Discover mountain cheeses, cured meats and seasonal ingredients from small farms and family producers across the Engadin and neighbouring Alpine valleys — the same landscape that informs Chesa Marchetta’s kitchen.

Discover Engadin craftsmanship

Visit Museum Engiadinais and local workshops to understand the carved wood, decorated interiors and sgraffito façades that give the valley its distinctive visual identity.

Protecting culture & land

Chesa Marchetta's restoration was approached as an exercise in preservation rather than reinvention. Architect Luis Laplace retained the character of the historic buildings while working with regional craftspeople on everything from joinery and sgraffito to frescoes and handmade lace. Antique Engadin furniture and salvaged timber further preserve the material culture of the valley.

The environmental approach is similarly grounded: 18 ground-source heat pumps provide efficient heating, salvaged wood has been reused wherever possible and food waste is sent to the village of Sils to generate biomass energy.

Most importantly, Chesa Marchetta remains connected to the community around it — sourcing from regional family producers and giving a historic village institution a new life without erasing the character that made it special.f the countryside.

Location & surroundings

Chesa Marchetta sits in Sils Maria in the Upper Engadin, surrounded by lakes, forests and some of Switzerland's most dramatic Alpine landscapes.

St. Moritz lies around 20 minutes away, yet Sils retains a quieter character of its own — a small mountain village whose extraordinary landscape has attracted generations of artists, writers and thinkers.

Key details

Address

Chesa Marchetta
Via da Marias 88
7514 Sils / Segl Maria

Getting here

By plane: Zurich and Milan airports are both within approximately three hours by car.

By train: St. Moritz is the nearest railway station, approximately 20 minutes away.

By private plane: Engadin Airport at Samedan.

By bus: Regular services connect St. Moritz and Sils Maria.

Transfers: Taxis can be arranged through the hotel.

Facilities

Restaurant celebrating Swiss & Italian Alpine cuisine

Garden overlooking the mountains and Nietzsche-Haus

Extensive historic & contemporary art collection

Hotel art tours

Guided walks & yoga

More

13 individually designed bedrooms

Summer season: June - November

Winter season: December– March

Words from Iwan Wirth, Co-owner, Chesa Marchetta

“My love and understanding of place began here, through architecture, nature and culture.”

Every stay booked direct keeps value with the people of this place, so they can reinvest in culture, community and land

We believe travel should give back more than it takes; that it can protect cultures, not erode them.

That is why we connect you directly with each hotel’s own website. By booking direct, value remains in the hands of those who shape these places, enabling reinvestment into local culture, community, and land.