16_ttg_lux_suites_eats 11/6/09 15:15 Page 16
MOREWAYSTO
WOWINFLORENCE
1
Hillside haven:
coming in July is the
third historic hotel in
this Florentine mix, Il
Salviatino, set on a
hillside in Fiesole, just up
from Villa San Michele.
The hotel is a 15th-century palace, restored
with frescoes discovered and revived. Rooms
from €650 and a Devarana spa by the end of
the year (salviatino.com).
2
Ringside seat: no
five-star hotel is
closer to the
action than Rocco Forte’s
Hotel Savoy on Piazza
della Repubblica. Guests
can smugly sup their
espresso as they sit on L'Incontro’s terrace
watching the tourists stream around the
square, then just mooch around to the Uffizi
close to closing time (hotelsavoy.it).
a
t
s
FlorEncE
Florence has been undergoing a Renaissance for the 21st century 3
Getting better: as
if all this wasn’t
enough, you can
thanks to several five-star openings in recent years and more to recommend a combined
follow in the surrounding hills. April Hutchinson reports trip to another newcomer
Looking at the bas reliefs of the Four Seasons Firenze’s glass-covered in July – Castel Monastero.
courtyard, you would think you are standing in a museum. Through the Opening in July, this is the
arches lie more gems, such as the one-time chapel (pictured above) complete restoration of Monastero
with its mother-of-pearl shelled-cupola, on a smaller scale to that of dell’Ombrone, a small village once home to a
the Uffizi’s Tribuna, which along with Duomo et al is a mere 10-15 Villa San Michele noble family of Siena. It has 76 guestrooms
minute walk away in the Centro Storico (historic centre). When the sheer volume of and suites (castelmonastero.com).
The suites on the noble floor are exquisite, packed with evidence of Florence’s treasures and crowds
Renaissance life as lived by the five generations of Florentine nobility gets too much, head to Villa San
who inhabited this 15th-century Palazzo della Gherardesca and the Michele, a former 15th-century
nuns of the 16th-century Conventino. It’s easy to see why this hotel was monastery lovingly restored by 4
Fashion forward:
for something
contemporary,
seven years in the conversion before it opened last year. Orient-Express. The view sees there are the pretty hotels
t
e
s & e
The Royal Suite (€13,000 per night) is phenomenal, with its the Duomo reduced to a pinprick founded by the
centrepiece gallery overseen by a Franceschini-frescoed ceiling. The in the distance. Rooms in the Ferragamo family who put
hotel’s 10 other speciality suites include Volteranno, with its detailed main building are each unique, as much love into their hotels as they do their
original Chinese silk wallpaper adorning the bedroom. Other suites and while the garden suites have fashion. Check out the Hotel Lungarno,
rooms are tastefully decorated in cooling greens or happy yellows. evolved from the main hotel over Continentale and Galley Hotel Art, as well as
The hotel spa eschews a predictable Asian approach and opts for the years and trees and flowers Lungarno Suites and Lungarno Apartments
s
u
i
crisp white and works with the ancient Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica have been carefully nurtured (lungarnohotels.com).
di Santa Maria Novella, using all natural herbs and oils. around them so they blend into
The pool and the 11-acre garden give the hotel a feeling of being up their surrounds. The enchanting How to book it: Kirker has two nights at Villa
in the Tuscan hills, a million miles from the tourist masses and drone pool terrace garden is an idyllic San Michele, two at Four Seasons, flights,
of scooters buzzing around Florence’s heart. spot to enjoy the sunshine, transfers and Uffizi tickets from £2,196pp.
Tel: 00800 6488 6488, fourseasons.com incredible views and a cold Tel: 020 7593 2283, kirkerholidays.com.
Bellini. Tel: 0845 077 2222, Fly with Meridiana from Gatwick to Florence
For more suites and eats visit ttgluxury.com villasanmichele.com twice daily. Tel: 0870 224 3711.
my kind of luxury...
“Luxury is space and light, a comfortable bed
with linen sheets, the chance to lie in bed late
in the morning with newspapers and Radio 4,
then getting up in a leisurely fashion with a
strong hot shower with plenty of almond oil.”
Olga Polizzi, interior designer,
16
Rocco Forte Collection
in the know
summer 09 ttgluxury.com
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