Occupation Hotelier | ||
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Children Robertino Wirth, Veruschka Wirth Awards 2005 Independent Hotelier of the World2006 Premio Campidoglio per l’Economia, Rome2014 Leading Legend Award Alma maters Cornell University, Ithaca | ||
Roberto Enrico Wirth (born May 25, 1950 in Rome) is the owner and Managing Director of the Hotel Hassler, a five-star hotel located at the top of the Spanish Steps in Rome, Italy. Roberto E. Wirth represents the fifth generation of Swiss hoteliers. His parents Oscar Wirth and Carmen Bucher Wirth were both descendants of two families of hoteliers: the Bucher family from the Luzern area in Switzerland and the Wirth family from Maulach, Germany.
Contents
- Early years
- Education and work experience
- Return to Rome and to the Hassler
- Awards
- Deaf activism
- Education
- References
Wirth was born profoundly deaf. He is the founder and President of CABSS Assistance Center for Deaf and Deafblind Children / Centro Assistenza per Bambini Sordi e Sordociechi Onlus (CABSS), a non-profit association dedicated to supporting deaf and deafblind children and their families. He has two children, twins Robertino and Veruschka.
Early years
His father Oscar was the manager of both the Hotel Eden and the Hotel Hassler in Rome from the early 20th century. In 1964, the Wirth family became the sole owner of the Hotel Hassler. After Oscar Wirth’s death the hotel was managed by his wife Carmen Bucher Wirth. Roberto Wirth became General Manager in 1982, and in 2001, after the death of his mother Carmen, he purchased the shares of his brother Peter and became the sole owner of Hassler Roma S.p.A. and the hotel’s current President & Managing Director.
Education and work experience
Roberto Wirth studied at the Hotel School “E. Maggia” in Stresa, Italy. He then moved to the United States to study at Gallaudet University in Washington DC, and at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
After obtaining his Bachelor of Science in Hotel Management from Cornell University, he worked in San Francisco and Honolulu for several years before deciding to move back to Rome and to the Hassler.
Return to Rome and to the Hassler
While managing the Hassler he was often invited to participate with his staff in several culinary festivals in famous hotels around the world and since 1997, he is a consultant to the Imperial hotel in Tokyo for the management of the famous Restaurant Cicerone and to the Indian hotel chain Oberoi for the Italian restaurants in their hotels in Mumbai and New Delhi,
In 1999, Roberto Wirth founded the International Wine Academy of Roma, in a 1500 building along the Spanish Steps. The intention was to create a place where wine lovers could meet for wine tastings or wine courses. A few years later, he opened a four-room boutique hotel in the same location: Il Palazzetto Il Palazzetto.
Awards
In November 2005 he received the prestigious “Independent Hotelier of the World 2005” award in New York which Roberto Wirth decided to dedicate to his native city, Rome, delivering it into the hands of Rome’s mayor Veltroni during a private ceremony at the Hassler.
In February 2006 he was awarded the Prize for Economic Achievement (Premio Campidoglio per l’Economia) by Rome’s Mayor and a few weeks later he received the Marc’Aurelio Prize, a prestigious award that the Deputy Mayor of Rome grants to those entrepreneurs who distinguish themselves for the work accomplished in the field of tourism in Rome.
In May 2006 he received a Honorary Doctorate degree in Humane Letters from Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida and in May 2009 he received a second Honorary Doctorate degree in Humane Letters from Gallaudet University in Washington, DC.
He is also one of the 8 deaf recipients of the DeafNation Inspiration Award (for Hotel Hospitality) which was granted to him in August 2012 in Las Vegas.
In 2014, The Leading Hotels of the World conferred on him the « Leading Legend Award » for his contribution to the hotel industry and for his commitment to the art of independent hospitality.
On May 16, 2016, John Cabot University in Rome honoured Roberto Wirth with an honorary degree in Humane Letters.
Deaf activism
Being profoundly deaf since birth, Roberto Wirth has always been very active in associations for the deaf. While in Hawaii, he was the Chairman of "Silent Aloha", an association which published a monthly newsletter for the deaf, distributed in the United States. He also served on the Committee for the Disabled of the City of Honolulu and held several speeches on deafness at various conferences of the Governor of Hawaii.
He has been conferred several awards and honours from associations for the hearing-impaired in USA and in Italy and from other institutions, such as the Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund of the Gallaudet University, in Washington DC, in July 1992 (for excellence in a field not related to deafness), as well as for his professional career as successful hotelier.
Since 1992, every year, the "Roberto Wirth" scholarship, in collaboration with the Italian Fulbright Commission, is awarded to deaf educators of deaf and deafblind children. The winner of the scholarship attends Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. the only bilingual (American Sign Language and English) university in the world that is fully accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing students and is able to train the professionals who will work in the field of deafness.
In 2004 he founded CABSS Assistance Center for Deaf and Deafblind Children / Centro Assistenza per Bambini Sordi e Sordociechi Onlus (CABSS), a non-profit association dedicated to supporting deaf and deafblind children and their families. CABSS provides multisensory early intervention programs.
In May 2015, Wirth published his book “Il silenzio è stato il mio primo compagno di giochi » (translation: Silence was my first playmate), an autobiography that tells of the complex life of a man born profoundly deaf and forced to confront the prejudices of others, starting with those of his own family. The copyright fees are donated to non-profit CABSS (Assistance Center for Deaf and Deafblind Children), the association founded by Roberto Wirth dedicated to the support of deaf and deafblind children.