Must-Stay Hotels in Milan

Bulgari’s outpost in Milan is perhaps best known for its exquisite, 4,000 square metre private garden — a secluded sanctuary in the shimmer of the city’s upscale Brera district. The rest of the hotel is similarly idyllic, with a contemporary Italian design that exudes a quiet confidence, and a gorgeous pool twinkling with gold-leaf tiles. With impeccable service and a fashion-forward crowd, it nimbly embodies Milan’s modern aristocratic spirit.

Set across four 18th-century buildings near La Scala, the Mandarin Oriental blends Italian heritage with Asian precision to winning effect. The hotel’s designers originally said they hoped to conjure a sense of “Milano-calm” in the interiors, with monochrome marble floors, handsome neutral tones, and an abundance of sumptuous soft furnishings. It works. The La Scala district may centre on the historic opera house of the same name — but the true harmony, perhaps, occurs inside this singular hotel. 

Four Seasons’ Milano property is housed in a handsomely shuttered 15th-century convent in the heart of the fashion district — a nice metaphor for its fusion of calm sanctuary with a buzzy, stylish mood. Set around a cool, tree-thronged central courtyard, the hotel is thick with baubles from Milan’s rich history: like the original 1800s sketches for La Scala opera house, for example, framed on the walls of the lounge bar.

Located in a historic seminary redesigned by the Ferragamo family’s Lungarno Collection, Portrait Milano is a modern icon of discreet luxury and Italian craftsmanship. Set within a grand, now-public piazza in the Quadrilatero, it feels as though it’s right in the thick of the city and yet at the same time yet cooly removed — a tranquil mood enhanced by its bookish air, and its noted library of over 2,000 rare books. 

An emblem of old-world Milanese luxury, Principe di Savoia looms like a beautiful pale wedding cake in all its neo-classical grandeur. The atmosphere is similarly grand — the hotel was originally designed by architect Cesare Tenca specifically to host guests of the King of Italy — and yet always welcoming, with impeccable service and charming staff. Try out its excellent rooftop spa, with peerless views across the city. 

The interiors of the gorgeous Casa Cipriani were originally designed to recall a 1930s luxury ocean liner — and one does feel suitably transported and happily afloat inside this singular members-club-meets-hotel. Elegant and social in tone, Casa Cipriani Milano is a genuinely clubby spot inhabited by a worldly, connected clientele, and sat just across from the Indro Montanelli Gardens, one of the city’s last proper “secret” gardens.

Rocco Forte House is exactly as it sounds — an exclusive house as much as a hotel, overseen with the established excellence and old-school intimacy of the great Rocco Forte himself. Made up of 11 handsome suite-apartments overlooking the grand Piazza del Duomo, the residence offers proper privacy, style, and truly tailored service.

Though it only opened in 2013, Palazzo Parigi somehow feels like it’s been here forever — a testament to its adoption of some of Milan’s finest design conventions, from the sweeping entrance hall with its vast spiral staircase, to the gorgeous use of fine marble and its peerlessly high ceilings. Positioned in the centre of the chic Brera district, the Palazzo is cooly detached from the buzz of the very centre of Milan, with an atmosphere that’s both stately and romantic.