The lot where Villa Ariston was built has been mentioned for the first time in the Land Register way back in the 1890, as propriety of Mrs. Anna Pick, widow of the doctor Julius from Ozora in Hungary.

In 1898 the baroness Hedwiga von Haas-Teichen from Vienna becomes the owner of the Villa and in 1908 she orders the project from Oswaldo Meese. Therefore, that year is considered the year of birth of this Villa.

The Villa has been upgraded and renovated a few times, and today’s shape has been reached with the renovations made in the period between 1915 and 1924 by Viennese-Opatija’s architect Carl Siedl, thus converting it into a Mediterranean gem emerging from the rocks above the sea.

The huge garden was then converted into an English style silent promenade, and in front of the Villa the oldest palm of Opatija, according to some, can still be found.

Between the two World Wars, the Villa was propriety of the Italian prince Andrea Boncompagni, afterwards it belonged to the Jewish family Papo and in the 1960’s it gained today’s function of hotel and restaurant.

This is how the name of Villa Haas changed to Villa Papo, and reached today’s name, Villa Ariston, deriving from the Greek word aristos, meaning the best, the most noble.

The interior of the Villa has been almost completely preserved. The walls are decorated with paintings made by the Dutch maestros with portraits of the baroness Hedwiga, representations of battles and Lombard still life from the 17th century. At the entrance, inside the Villa, a sample of ancient sculpture can be found, a replica of Auriga of Delphi.