Boutique & Luxury Hotels in Italy
Boutique & Luxury Hotels in Italy – Amalfi Coast, Lake Como, Rome, Venice, Sicily and Capri.
Finding the perfect lodging looks different for every traveller.
While some people prefer global chains because they like having the kind of trip every time they leave home, others love the individualized experiences of staying at smaller hotels.
If you’re not sure where to stay for your next trip, check out these five characteristics of a boutique hotel to see if they could make your future vacations more relaxing or fun.
Boutique & Luxury Hotels in Italy – Intimate Property Sizes
Although boutique hotels aren’t always small, they’re traditionally more intimate than multi-floor hotel buildings built by the biggest chain brands.
They may have five to 10 rooms or over 20, depending on the property.
Historic homes will house fewer people than an apartment building converted into hotel rooms.
Consider your destination’s annual tourist crowds and city size to estimate how big or small the local boutique hotels will be.
Boutique & Luxury Hotels in Italy – Quirky Guest Amenities
Privately-owned boutique hotels allow the owners more freedom to design amenities that reflect their personalities or the property’s character.
One bed and breakfast in New York offers a pie down service where guests get a complimentary slice of pie delivered to their rooms each night.
Others give guests puzzles to take home or bookmarks that grow into wildflowers.
They’re fun perks you can’t find anywhere else that make your trip more memorable.
Boutique & Luxury Hotels in Italy – Luxury Shower Heads
Maintaining fewer rooms allows boutique hotel owners to invest in luxury features like waterfall shower heads.
You’ll feel more relaxed after showering under targeted massage streams in brushed-nickel or stainless steel finishes.
It’s something most people don’t get to experience at home, so details like a luxury shower head will transform your travel experience compared to standard bathrooms in traditional hotels.
Boutique & Luxury Hotels in Italy – Highly Personalized Service
Managers of big hotels don’t get to know every guest because hundreds of people shuffle through their building every week.
Boutique hotel owners get to know their guests personally, so you’ll get high-quality service and staff that’s attentive to your needs.
Instead of standard amenities and services, the front desk staff could work with local delivery providers to get your favorite foods and necessities to your room. Management might stop by your breakfast table to see if you’re enjoying your stay.
The customized care will make you feel genuinely welcome and comfortable during your visit.
Boutique & Luxury Hotels in Italy – Localized Dining Options
Clever dining options are one of the most significant characteristics of boutique hotels.
The owners often celebrate their local culture or the hotel’s history through menus curated for their guests.
A boutique hotel in Denver inspired by 17th-century French salons also serves traditional pan-Latin foods that the owners love.
You’ll get a mix of cultures and a taste of something new by placing your stay in the hands of boutique owners.
Boutique & Luxury Hotels in Italy
AMALFI COAST, ITALY
Borgo Santandrea is perched 90 meters above sea level, like a discerning seabird that’s decided to stay a while.
A private beach, romantic rooms and delicious dining count among its Amalfi Coast charms.
Sensibly letting what’s outside do the talking, the interiors are a serene, sophisticated vision of white and blue, with pearly marble, neutral hues and glittering glass singing the high notes.
There’s a gym you probably won’t use and a library you definitely will (it doubles up as a restaurant and bar, after all); bonus points go to the negroni-acing staff.
LAKE COMO, ITALY
An hour’s drive from Milan Malpensa in our Fiat Panda led us to the Grand Hotel Tremezzo, perched on the side of Lake Como. And grand it is, restored to its 1910 splendor.
At reception we were met by a parade of towering rose stems submerged in vast vases, lavish candelabras and a swell of red-velvet loveseats.
I shrieked with pregnant delight as I spied the table of pick ‘n’ mix canapés – a friendly touch to replenish the low blood sugar.
The hotel is owned and run by a Como family who are still very involved in everything from the silverware to the constant refreshing of the flowers.
The hotel was one of Lake Como’s first five-star hotels and back in 1910 was regarded as extremely avant-garde, especially the elevator leading from the road to the first-floor reception.
With only 90 rooms, and a 200-guest capacity, the hotel has a warm and cosy feel, despite its grandeur.
We opted for a deluxe lake-view room and it didn’t disappoint.
The bed facing the French windows and cast-iron balcony offered a glorious view of the lake speckled with dancing images of terracotta homes reflected in the water, and lush green hillsides capped off with snow.
Boutique & Luxury Hotels in Italy
ROME, ITALY
It’s a family affair at Hotel de la Ville in Rome, another hit brought to you by the fabulous Fortes: the design, spa products and business nouse are all the brainchild of one of the clan.
These hotelier heroes have done it again, with a top-of-the-Spanish-Steps setting, super spa and buzzy rooftop bar that’s possibly the best place for terracotta-tile fans to admire the local buildings – as well as the major monuments parading in front of you.
The rooms are colorful and cosy, with textured wallpaper, carved mirrors and emperor busts, along with a supersize terrace if you’ve booked wisely.
VENICE, ITALY
Luxury hotel Aman Venice has been the site of high-society soirées since the 16th century.
Formerly the Palazzo Papadopoli, this grand Baroque building houses original frescoes – by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo – and Rococo and Neo-Renaissance decor have been restored to their former opulence.
A hidden jetty entrance and private garden shield guests from prying paparazzi lenses; but, even if you have no credits to your name, the top-drawer staff will make you feel like a megastar.
Boutique & Luxury Hotels in Italy
ROME, ITALY
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same goes for hotly anticipated hotel Six Senses Rome, as it still hasn’t flung open its Baroque doors yet.
Housed in the 18th-century Unesco-listed Palazzo Salviati Cesi Mellini on a hallowed shopping street between the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon (so, super central), it’s heralded for later this year.
But all augurs well, with brilliant Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola enhancing restoration work with a fitting mod look (using swooshy Travertine marbles and cocciopesto finishes), a roof terrace with landmark-packed views, and even its own set of Roman baths.
Yes, the wait feels as eternal as the city, but we’re certain of enthusiastic thumbs ups in the future, and we, for one, can’t wait for the empirical experience.
LAKE COMO, ITALY
Lake Como gets cool and contemporary at Il Sereno hotel in Torno.
Designed by Patricia Urquiola with neutral stone, bronze, walnut wood and glass, the hotel creates the perfect setting for lakefront gazing.
Whether through the bronze-accented lobby on the terrace over cocktails, from sun loungers by the infinity pool or upstairs in minimalist suites, which all face Como and are accented with lake-hue furnishings.
Explore the lake by boat in the hotel’s sleek, vintage-inspired warm-wood vessels, then retreat to Michelin Award-winning chef Andrea Berton’s restaurant for an alfresco meal of lake-caught fish and other bounty of the region.
Boutique & Luxury Hotels in Italy
SICILY, ITALY
Escapism rarely materialises quite so vividly as it does at Villa Igiea.
A Sicilian villa with turrets, colonnades and classical statuary, made noteworthy first by the dynastic Florio family – one that’s played host to royalty and A-listers alike for over a century since their noble home was built in 1900.
Then the esteemed Forte family of hoteliers.
Perched amid terraced gardens and gently swaying palms on a rocky coastline overlooking the Med, with power-dressing from design-whizz Olga Polizzi.
The resort features authentic Sicilian menus, here is where impeccable hospitality and Belle Époque-era luxury combining to form the high-watermark of a visit to this sun-drenched Italian island.
CAPRI, ITALY
Sweet scents waft around olive and lemon trees in huge pots outside JK Place Capri, a Fellini movie in hotel form,.
The resort is far away enough from the buzz and night-life noise, yet somehow still managing to feel in the thick of things.
This gleaming white, shore-side hotel is the kind of place you want to re-book as soon as you leave.
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