The Italian summer doesn’t end so much as it transforms. September arrives and the days shorten, the crowds thin, the destinations breathe again. This is the window; the six weeks between the end of August and the middle of October when Italy is, by general consensus of anyone who knows it well, at its absolute best and when the question of where to sleep becomes, suddenly, the most important decision of the season. The properties on this list are the kind of places that justify the trip in themselves, regardless of what surrounds them so if you’re ready for one last trip before the arrival of Autumn, take a read through our selection.
1
Pensione America, Forte dei Marmi, Tuscany
At Forte dei Marmi, steps from the sea, Pensione America is one of the first villas built on the Versilia coast, dating back to 1899. In 1922 it became a guesthouse and today, a recently renovated adults-only five star hotel. The atmosphere is unmistakably Italian and quintessentially nostalgic: wisteria, lemon trees and palms frame 18 rooms and suites, each with a terrace or veranda, dressed in Sicilian majolica by Nicolò Giuliano, wallpapers by Elena Carozzi, custom bamboo furniture, Santa Maria Novella products and uniforms by Loretta Caponi. In the garden, a green checkered ceramic and marble pool overlooks one of Forte’s oldest tennis clubs.
2
La Roqqa, Maremma, Tuscany
Sitting on the Forte promontory at the edge of Porto Ercole’s Borgo Vecchio, La Roqqa has one of the more commanding positions on the Argentario coast: the harbour below, the Maremma hills behind, pine forests and olive groves in every direction. The interiors, designed by Milanese atelier Palomba Serafini Associati, draw on the design vocabulary of the 1960s and 1970s across 47 recently reconfigured rooms and suites. At Scirocco, the panoramic terrace restaurant, the kitchen helmed by Chef Francesco Ferretti, works within the Tuscan tradition while allowing itself room for more contemporary ideas while the cocktail programme leans into Mediterranean botanicals and aromatics. The Isolotto beach club completes the picture for those who want a day at the water’s edge.
3
Tenuta Bertarello, Vetralla, Lazio
Tenuta Bertarello, encircled by 40 hectares of organic farm, is located just outside the city gates and nestled in a small paradise in the Tuscia countryside. The property, which dates back to the 18th century, tells the story of a loved and lived home, purchased by the Peruzzi family twenty years ago – and today, dearly managed by Beatrice. Heritage transcends throughout the original terracotta floors, antique furniture and walls, papered with sheets of satirical magazines from the 1800s. But then there’s warm touch in which the family invites guests into their country home where nature is at heart: chickens, cats, dogs and horses run wild around the meadows, an abundance of bees from which the family makes its honey and a vegetable garden where fresh produce is picked and prepared for guests.
4
La Minervetta, Sorrento
Clinging to the cliffs of Sorrento, La Minervetta was built in the 1950s by owner Marco De Luca’s grandparents as a restaurant, although it fell into decline before Marco restored it nine years ago entirely to his own taste. He filled it with family furniture, personal collections, art objects and books accumulated over a lifetime. Vietri ceramics, Sottsass pieces, vintage and contemporary design sit together in combinations that should clash and somehow don’t. The rooms carry the same spirit; think colourful, characterful and entirely individual, some with windows so large you feel suspended directly above the sea. The terrace is also magic; the perfect place to sip a crisp glass of wine as the sun starts to set and you contemplate where to eat your next spaghetto alle vongole.
5
MezzaTorre, Ischia
Perched on the north-western tip of Ischia above a private bay, Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa is one of Italy’s most glamorous address, under the Pellicano Hotel Group owned by the Sciò family. The 48 rooms and suites, designed by Pellicano’s own creative director Marie-Louise Sciò with her signature lightness of touch, are spread between a 16th-century Aragonese watchtower and cottages nestled within seven hectares of Mediterranean scrubland, some with vertiginous sea views, others scented by pine and fragrant undergrowth. Dining splits between La Torre, the main restaurant adjacent to the tower, and La Baia, the open-air poolside address. The highlight is the thermal spa as it draws on Ischia’s legendary volcanic waters, an absolute must-place to rewind after a day sprawled under the sun.
6
Hotel La Minerva, Capri
Family-run for three generations since the early 20th century, La Minerva is Capri at its most quietly essential; 19 individually designed rooms spread across six descending terraced levels, each one featuring vaulted ceilings, hand-painted majolica floors and private terraces framed by bougainvillea. It is a property that has no interest in competing with the island’s grander addresses and is all the better for it. The pool, set in a fragrant garden of citrus and almond trees with views of the sea and the medieval Charterhouse of San Giacomo, is exactly where you want to spend a Capri afternoon.
7
La Peschiera, Puglia
On the Monopoli coastline in Puglia, La Peschiera began life as an ancient fishing reserve and has been transformed, with extraordinary care, into one of the most quietly refined hotels in southern Italy. Interiors are meticulous and deliberate, and rooms wake up to the sound of waves; dinner is served on a suspended terrace directly above the water, where Chef Vincenzo Montanaro builds tasting menus around the day’s catch. On the other side of the property, a small private beach offers the particular pleasure of a Mediterranean dolce far niente.
8
Hotel Principe di Salina, Aeolian ISlands, Sicily
Principe di Salina began, as the best things often do, with a family story. Nonno Alfredo: bubbly, entrepreneurial, always with the best address in his pocket and his Alfa Romeo ready, made Salina feel less like a destination and more like a family legend, half memory and half promise. Years later, his daughter Silvana and her husband Francesco made good on that promise, doing something brave and slightly crazy in the best Sicilian way: they stopped, and they built. In April 2017, Principe di Salina opened with a clear intention — not a hotel in the conventional sense, but a place where strangers arrive and leave feeling like friends. Today the property is run by Anita and Filippo, with the same spirit intact. The boutique hotel sits on one of the Aeolian Islands’ most quietly beautiful islands, where the sea changes colour by the hour and hospitality is less a service than a natural instinct. Private enough to feel like your own, warm enough that you will find yourself laughing with someone you met twenty minutes ago over an aperitivo.
9
Braccialieri, Sicily
Named after the farmworkers who cultivated this corner of south-eastern Sicily for generations, Braccialieri is built within an archaeological olive grove of extraordinary age. The interiors, conceived by Palermitan designer Alessandro Enriquez, draw inspiration from the tiled floors of his grandmother’s house: warm, eccentric, deeply personal and entirely removed from the glossy anonymity that has defined so much luxury travel. The pool is pure Enriquez: a striking red and white checkerboard design ringed by sun loungers and umbrellas printed with overscale geraniums. The café, on a panoramic terrace overlooking the Sicilian countryside, is where you linger over granita and local pastries.
10
Parco dei Sesi, Pantelleria, Sicily
Amid the Parco Archeologico dei Sesi, where the first civilisation in Pantelleria once settled, Margot and Massimiliano also found a home; although this home was opened to welcome guests to savour the magic of the island. It was here, where the couple met, fell in love and, after a few years of long distance relationship, decided to finally establish themselves and focus on delivering a holistic concept of hospitality where wellbeing, peace and nature coexist. The 13 rooms are idyllic; designed in harmony with the wild, Mediterranean surroundings enhanced with African art, sourced and selected by Margot. Around the property, cosy areas and linen curtains provide the ultimate nooks for relaxation; while the terraces provide prime position for watching the sun slowly set in the horizon. Conviviality is the heart of Parco dei Sesi, with four dinners a week that bring guests together over sociable chats, wine and home cooked food, fostering new connections.
