24 palazzo hotels that will make you feel like a member of the Italian nobility
Hundred of years ago, Italy's palazzos were home to members of the Italian nobility; today, more and more of these impressive palatial buildings have been transformed into romantic hotels that certainly make for an atmospheric place to bed down.
Many have preserved original features and decorations – think precious antiques, detailed ceiling frescoes, decorative stuccowork and sumptuous chandeliers. We've scoured the land to find the very best, from a grand affair on the Amalfi Coast to the Venetian palace where the Clooneys opted to spend their wedding night.
AMALFI COAST
Palazzo Murat
Positano, Amalfi Coast, Italy
8Telegraph expert rating
This 18th century, L-shaped palazzo was once home to Joachim Murat, king of Naples and brother-in-law to Napoleon, and there is an air of grandeur (but not pomposity) about the place, especially in the vaulted public rooms with their antiques and fine paintings. The large rooms in the original part of the palazzo, furnished with four-posters and opulent fabrics, are quite grand and have tall French windows opening onto creeper-draped balconies. Read expert review From £366per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Palazzo Suriano
Vietri sul Mare, Amalfi Coast, Italy
8Telegraph expert rating
For sheer refinement, it's hard to beat this noble 18th-century palazzo, poised on the (literally) sheer rock-face above the murmuring sea, and restored with exquisite flair. The Suriano offers seven exclusive bedrooms, antique-filled reception rooms and private dining with lashings of frescoes. In the library, guests can play chess or cards, or browse through antiquarian books, vintage newspapers, or useful guide books to the local area. Read expert review From £168per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Palazzo Avino
Ravello, Amalfi Coast, Italy
8Telegraph expert rating
Ravello’s most overtly luxurious hotel occupies a pink-hued, fairytale 12th-century palazzo in a quiet location with extraordinary coastal views. The grand, vaulted hallways and rooms have been thoroughly re-modelled in super-luxe style with lashings of marble, fine fabrics and antiques. Spend time in the very fine heated pool with an underwater window or make your way to the chic private beach club on the rocks via complimentary shuttle. Read expert review From £409per night Check availability Rates provided by Mr & Mrs Smith
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TUSCANY
Palazzo di Camugliano
Florence, Tuscany, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
This is the family residence of a Florentine Marquis, Lorenzo Niccolini di Camugliano, and although a few things have changed since the Palazzo’s 16th-century foundation (en-suite bathrooms being one notable improvement), lashings of ceiling fresco, decorative stuccowork and antique furniture remain. A hanging garden – where breakfast is served in good weather – adds to the sense of being in a privileged refuge from the city bustle. Read expert review From £187per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Palazzo Borghesi
Siena, Tuscany, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
A charmingly renovated boutique residence in a medieval palazzo just around the corner from the famous Piazza del Campo in central Siena. The four rooms are different shapes and sizes and in all but the rose room – which has views from the expansive picture window better than any watercolour of a Tuscan scene – colour schemes are dictated by the shades of the 18th-century ceiling frescoes discovered during renovation. Read expert review From £159per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Hotel Palazzo Ravizza
Siena, Tuscany, Italy
8Telegraph expert rating
Built in the 1700s, the palazzo was bought by Count Ravizza a century later (his portrait hangs in the first-floor saloon) and has been owned by one or other branch of the family ever since. Bedrooms and shared areas are mostly furnished with well-preserved wooden pieces from this era. The delightful formal garden overlooking the hills is the perfect spot for lingering over a book or with a drink from the bar. Read expert review From £98per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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ROME
Residenza Napoleone III
Rome, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
Some hotels model themselves on stately homes or aristocratic townhouses; Residenza Napoleone III is the real thing. The Old Master paintings you see on the walls, the busts of Roman emperors that line the grand entrance staircase, the heirloom antiques that decorate the place – all these things have been in the Ruspoli family for generations. The main suite, where Emperor Napoleon III once stayed, consists of three large, lavishly opulent rooms. Read expert review From £804per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Martis Palace Hotel Rome
Rome, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
The Martis Palace take its name from the Roman god Mars. It was once a Renaissance palace and convent owned by the noble Massimo family. The period features of the building have been thoughtfully brought forward to the 21st century, with huge glass doors opening onto 600-year-old granite columns and holy water fountains. Coffered ceilings and wood carvings are painted in cool blues and contemporary greys, and the bar, once a chapel, is now instead a shrine to prosecco. Read expert review From £152per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Palazzo Montemartini Roma
Rome, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
Palazzo Montemartini is a stylish hotel made up of two turn-of-the-century palaces whose original marble, stucco and wood ornament is mixed with cool, contemporary décor and artwork. Design team KingRoselli successfully incorporated the hotel’s Ancient Rome history with modern stone work, custom furniture and an impressive ceiling fountain flowing from 30ft high. Read expert review From £192per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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UMBRIA
Palazzo Seneca
Norcia, Umbria, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
While undertaking the renovation of the 16th-century Palazzo Seneca, owners Vincenzo and Federico Bianconi chose tradition over trend, sourcing their furnishings exclusively from small-scale artisans across central Italy and picking natural materials like hardwood and butter-soft leather to complement the palazzo’s original flagstone and period terracotta floors, crisp white and wood-panelled walls and beamed and cross-vaulted ceilings. The result is a timeless elegance. Read expert review From £113per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Palazzo Bontadosi Hotel & Spa
Montefalco, Umbria, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
This Renaissance palazzo set on Montefalco’s postcard-perfect piazza ticks all the right boxes: a noble history as a former bishop’s palace, beautiful frescoed ceilings and original architecture, chic contemporary furnishings and original art, an excellent restaurant and pocket-sized spa – and even a resident ghost. Warm earth tones dominate in the guest rooms, but crisp white walls and floor-to-ceiling windows welcome guests in the reception area and breakfast room/café. Read expert review From £152per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Palazzo Leti
Spoleto, Umbria, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
Palazzo Leti is elegant, intimate and refined. Expect it to be filled with tasteful period furniture, paintings and antiques. It scores especially highly for its perfectly kept gardens and terrace, which have sweeping views over the rooftops to the historic church of San Pietro and the hills and woods of Monteluco. There’s no restaurant, but breakfast in the garden in summer is a cut above. Read expert review From £101per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
VENETO
The Gritti Palace
Venice, Veneto, Italy
10Telegraph expert rating
This 15th-century palazzo occupies one of the loveliest spots on the Grand Canal, looking across to the magnificent Salute church, and has equally sumptuous interiors to match. All the rooms are different but all are filled with precious antiques, paintings, frescoes, objets d’art and beautiful fabrics. Digital alarm-radios and televisions are the only things that spoil the illusion you are staying not in a hotel but in a Venetian palazzo as a guest of the doge of Venice. Read expert review From £589per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Aman Canal Grande
Venice, Veneto, Italy
8Telegraph expert rating
The Clooneys opted to spend their wedding night in this 16th-century Grand Canal-side palazzo, which says it all. Contemporary furnishings mix with sumptuous chandeliers and burnished mirrors in the 24 ultra-luxe suites, including the Alcova suite with its ceiling paintings by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Guests can arrive by boat to enter by the formal 'porta d’acqua’ into a vast, beamed reception with marble chequered flooring and original frescos. Read expert review From £1,032per night Check availability Rates provided by Mr & Mrs Smith
Hotel Antico Doge
Venice, Veneto, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
A lovingly restored 13th-century palace that was once the personal residence of Doge Marino Falier. Original pavements are found throughout the 20 rooms and each room is unique in its antique furnishings and luxurious fabrics. Rooms are enveloped in rich reds, yellows, greens and gold colours staying true to the history of the building. Read expert review From £101per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Palazzo Valmarana Braga
Vicenza, Veneto, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
The palace was designed by Andrea Palladio at the start of the 16th century. It has an authentic, untouched character. There are marble floors, frescoed walls, centuries-old prints and paintings. Typical for Vicenza, the ceilings are with exposed thick beams. Some of the original Murano glass chandeliers are so old that they had been initially made to be used with candles and electrified much later. Read expert review From £71per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Hotel Palazzo Abadessa
Venice, Veneto, Italy
8Telegraph expert rating
With its beautiful heirloom antiques and frescoed ceilings, Palazzo Abadessa is every inch the aristocratic family palace. The magnificent salone, with its works by followers of Tintoretto, enhances this feeling. But clients are treated very much as friends at a house party. And the lovely, lush garden is a wonderful place to relax after a tough day’s sightseeing. Read expert review From £137per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Palazzo Ca’Nova
Venice, Veneto, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
For those who dream of an exclusive pied-à-terre on Venice’s Grand Canal, the staffed luxury apartments at Palazzo Ca’Nova offers the unique experience of living like a local while enjoying all the comforts of a stylish boutique hotel. Inside, there's a careful pairing of stately antiques with updated minimalist accents and bold modern colors, which creates a style that gives homage both to Venice’s aristocratic past and its chic present. Read expert review From £321per night
Palazzo Monga Boutique Guesthouse
Verona, Veneto, Italy
8Telegraph expert rating
Located in an 18th -century palazzo, this stunning guesthouse offers a perfectly tailored experience. The immaculate décor, spacious suites and central location make it an ideal base to explore Verona or to simply stay in and fully relax. The three suites and one room have different colour schemes, spectacular Swarovski chandeliers and gold-leaf detailing on the walls. Original 18th-century hardwood floors and antique paintings are complemented by the trendiest mod cons. Read expert review From £201per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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ITALIAN LAKES
Villa Crespi
Orta San Giulio, Lake Orta, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
The last thing you'd expect to find on little Lake Orta is a Moorish palace, yet this extraordinary building has become one of the iconic symbols of the lake. Surrounded by verdant gardens, the villa has its own minaret, while the interiors resemble an emir's palace, with intricate handmade stucco motifs and marble columns. Period furniture keeps with the style of the villa. Read expert review From £312per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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BASILICATA
Palazzo Viceconte Matera
Matera, Basilicata, Italy
8Telegraph expert rating
Built in blond limestone round a handsome courtyard, this splendid aristocratic residence bears witness to the city’s glittering past. You’ll feel like the guest of an urbane 18th-century Count, as you wander round its frescoed, chandeliered salons, immaculately restored by the Viceconte family and filled with treasurable antiques, oriental rugs, and an outstanding collection of paintings. It’s an atmosphere that invites hushed voices and refined manners. Read expert review From £122per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Palazzo Gattini
Matera, Basilicata, Italy
9Telegraph expert rating
The 17th-century residence of the Gattini Counts is effortlessly elegant, all vaulted and arched ceilings, golden limestone walls, and lofty, balconied windows. Interiors are done in a contemporary-Classic style, bathed in soft lighting. With its underground Spa, well-dressed piano nobile, and roof-garden with soaring views, the palazzo is quite simply a lovely place to while away the hours. Read expert review From £241per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
CAMPANIA
Palazzo Marziale
Sorrento, Italy
8Telegraph expert rating
The aristocratic origins of the building are immediately apparent from the impressive entrance courtyard (now glassed in and scented by huge bunches of lilies) where dark stone columns support soaring arches. It feels a bit like staying at the home of a grand relative; the place is filled with family antiques, paintings and prints and reception rooms are furnished in grand style, as if waiting for a party to happen. Read expert review From £142per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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PIEDMONT
Palazzo Righini
Fossano, Piedmont, Italy
8Telegraph expert rating
This hotel, set in a 17th-century convent and noble residence, is conveniently located to access the Langhe, the home of Barolo and Barbaresco wines. It retains a number of original features including a carved wooden door with the coat of arms of the Baroni Righini di San Giorgio who lived here in the early 20th century, a frescoed 17th century coffered ceiling and handmade terracotta tiled floors. Read expert review From £128per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
