Volume II

Italy and the Alps

Rome and the Dolomites, a Welsh house above Adelboden, and the lakes in between.

Written up

Six stays, with the five notes on each.

Gargnano, Lake Garda, Italy

Lefay Resort and SPA Lago di Garda

A spa resort on a hillside above Gargnano, up a narrow road with almost nothing else on it. The outdoor pool is the photograph everyone knows. The rest of it surprised me more.

Dolomites, South Tyrol, Italy

FORESTIS

A mountain retreat where the setting shapes the entire stay.

Milan, Italy

Park Hyatt Milano

A high-level hotel in the heart of Milan, two steps from the Galleria, and the best place to start a visit to the city in December.

Rome, Italy

Orient Express La Minerva

The old Hotel de la Minerve under a new name, with the Pantheon on one side of the roof and half of Rome on the other.

Adelboden, Bernese Oberland, Switzerland

The Brecon

A Welsh family's house in Adelboden, adults only, where the champagne is yours to pour and no room has a television.

Venice, Italy

Seventeen rooms in a restored private house in Santa Croce, with a lawn running down to its own gate on the Grand Canal and a two-star dining room that does breakfast. The address nobody walks past, which is most of the point.

Outside the groups

Houses here that belong to no chain.

They are a mix. A hotel run by the family that owns it, a villa, a house of a few rooms on an island, and here and there a larger place that sits outside the programmes anyway. No group stands behind any of them, and several appear on no booking portal at all. I have stayed in all of them, several over a number of years. Tell me what the trip has to do and I will say which one fits, and where there is nothing to book online I write to the owner myself.

A bed with an arched pale headboard against a panelled dark green wall — Rome, Italy

A bed piled with cushions under a rough beamed ceiling, tall windows onto a green garden — Florence, Italy

An olive tree in a stone trough in a pink walled courtyard with pale timber armchairs — Venice, Italy

A pink velvet sofa under a pink fireplace hood — Veneto countryside, Italy

A bed with a red velvet headboard piped in white and white pillows stacked against it, beside a domed brass lamp on a black table with a small notebook under it — Cesena, Italy

A cluster of polished chrome blobs mounted on the ceiling of a lobby, with a lit doorway through to a room of red chairs beyond — Ferrara, Italy

A bar under a white coffered ceiling with a red carpet and dark leather chairs — Rome, Italy

A bed in a white room under an old beamed ceiling with a rounded glass partition beside it — Naples, Italy

A black buttoned sofa below a large landscape painting, on a patterned rug under a moulded ceiling — Turin, Italy

Trestle tables in a row under arched windows — Veneto countryside, Italy

Garden stairs lit at night between two stone urns — Florence, Italy

A writing desk with a lamp, a letter rack and room keys on a green blotter — Venice, Italy

A hand holding a small illustrated card over a brown and white checkerboard floor — Rome, Italy

An open kitchen with a timber island, red stools and teal shelving stacked with glassware — Veneto countryside, Italy

An unmade bed with a carved dark headboard against gold and green damask, a small lamp lit beside it — Venice, Italy

A marble column under a dark coffered ceiling, with a chandelier and white sofas beyond — Rome, Italy

A sitting room in pale greys with a botanical mural along one wall and a low black table — Naples, Italy

A pool with white loungers and a grey parasol at the far end of a lawn, with woven iron garden sofas in the foreground and cypresses and a plane tree around it — Florence, Italy

A bed against a red padded wall with a brass framed door and a small framed print — Turin, Italy

A great arched leaded window over a dark oval table and a marble terrazzo floor — Venice, Italy

A shower room tiled in teal with a stone basin and a timber stool — Rome, Italy

A long terrace of a dark modern building with metal tables, overlooking open fields — Veneto countryside, Italy

A dining room with white clothed tables and navy velvet chairs under two black many-armed chandeliers, a parquet floor, tall shuttered windows and framed artworks on the walls — Cesena, Italy

Amber Murano glass globes hanging in a row over a dark lounge with blue alcoves beyond — Venice, Italy

A bed under a dark beamed ceiling with a grey padded headboard panel and a lamp with an orange shade on each side, two white moulded chairs and an orange table in the foreground — Ferrara, Italy

A bar lit by a brass chandelier of glass globes, with arched shelves of bottles behind it — Rome, Italy

A long timber table laid for breakfast beside a tall arch, with a jam crostata on a glass stand, a plate of biscuits, a steel thermos and a basket of persimmons, autumn woods outside — Veneto countryside, Italy

A bathroom with a timber console basin on a red and white patterned tiled floor — Florence, Italy

A lobby with sculptural wall lights, low chairs and a patterned carpet — Venice, Italy

A bed against a wall painted with umbrella pines and cypresses — Rome, Italy

A brick arcade opening onto a lawn, with citrus trees in pots — Veneto countryside, Italy

A long lobby with red velvet armchairs and a glass chandelier on a marble floor — Naples, Italy

A tall dracaena in a steel pot on a glass counter, reflected in the polished floor of a salon — Turin, Italy

A bed set low in a tall room under exposed rafters — Viterbo, Italy

A bed in a pale room under a woven amber globe lamp, with a lit alcove behind it — Venice, Italy

A lobby of grey marble and backlit coffering with pale blue armchairs on a red carpet — Rome, Italy

A bed with striped cushions between two small lamps under a framed landscape — Veneto countryside, Italy

A pale boarded room with a red armchair, a timber dresser and a beamed ceiling — Florence, Italy

Two painted armchairs on a hexagonal tiled roof terrace over the rooftops of the city — Venice, Italy

A staircase of white and dark green marble seen from above, running down to a tall many-paned arched window with a cypress and green hills beyond, black and brass sconces on the walls — Cesena, Italy

A marble lobby with a bronze bust on a column, green armchairs and an urn of autumn flowers — Rome, Italy

A full length mirror beside two moulded chairs and a floor lamp on a pale timber floor — Veneto countryside, Italy

A table football beside a red arc lamp, a vintage bicycle and a striped carpet — Ferrara, Italy

A room in silver damask with a Murano chandelier, a gilt bed and a green velvet sofa — Venice, Italy

A timber table football on a parquet floor beside a dark armchair, a garden through the window — Rome, Italy

A timber bar with a chandelier above, cane chairs and red velvet curtains — Turin, Italy

A hall on a black and white chequered marble floor with a red carpeted staircase and globe lamps — Naples, Italy

A converted barn sitting room with white slipcovered armchairs on a jute rug under a dark beamed roof, full-height windows down both walls onto a lawn and yellowing trees — Veneto countryside, Italy

Red metal stools at a rooftop counter at dusk, a lit planter of grasses and a sail awning overhead — Venice, Italy

A brass clock face on walnut beside a wall of green and brass key boxes — Rome, Italy

The names stay off this page. They come with the inspection, or by email. More of them here.

On foot

The ground, where I stood on it.

Navy sneakers on antique patterned cement tiles

Puglia, ItalyPuglia, Italy

FORESTISDolomites, Italy

Ask about Italy and the Alps

Tell me the month and who is travelling.

I come back with one or two properties, the room I would take in each, and the notes that stay off the site. In English, Italian or Spanish.

Write to me →

Or the other way

Book it yourself, with the benefits attached.

Register once through Classic Travel, and where the house sits inside one of the programmes the hotel's own rate comes with breakfast, a credit, and an upgrade when one is free.

Register with Wheresnik →