Italy’s hospitality scene has never moved this fast. From Venice to Rome, Lake Como to Florence, a wave of openings is reshaping where, and how, the world stays in Italy, with historic palazzi, former banks and convents being reborn under some of hospitality’s biggest names. Orient Express, Airelles and Four Seasons are staking new claims on the Venetian lagoon; Florence is welcoming its first La Réserve and the urban debut of Borgo Pignano; Rome is trading nostalgia for reinvention at Experimental and Corinthia; and Lake Como has acquired The Edition. Here’s everything recently opened or opening on our radar.
1
Orient Express, Venice
The new Orient Express group, champion of slow train travel, is moving fast. After the opening of its first hotel La Minerva in Rome and the launch of La Dolce Vita train in April 2025, it has now opened reservations for Palazzo Donà Giovannelli in Venice. Yet entry to its 47 rooms, suites, and apartments will not be possible until April 2026. The new property will rise in a splendid noble residence in the Cannaregio district, built in 1436 by Filippo Calendario (also architect of the monumental Palazzo Ducale). Restoration and renewal works are led by Aline Asmar d’Amman, who sought a balance between the historical legacy of frescoes and decorations and contemporary design. A tribute to Venice, cultural and spiritual crossroads of the Mediterranean, the architecture blends Gothic details, baroque opulence, and classical harmony in a dialogue between different styles that shaped its identity. From gilded ballrooms to hidden passages, the new Orient Express hotel awakens as a cultural landmark. Guests are welcomed into a spectacular lobby with soaring wooden ceilings and an octagonal staircase—an 1800s masterpiece by Giovanni Battista Meduna, architect of Ca’ d’Oro and Teatro La Fenice—topped by a vaulted canopy of stone and glass leading to the Piano Nobile. Here unfolds a sequence of historic salons: the baroque-style Salone Vittoria, the Library of Culture with lapis-lazuli pigments and gilded wood, and a Music Room. There will also be a fine dining restaurant with private mooring, an all-day dining space overlooking the garden, and the Wagon Bar, a homage to the golden age of train travel.
2
Airelles Palladio, Venice
A Casanova in a brocade coat and cloak greets guests on the private dock in Giudecca. He escorts them to the entrance through a small door that opens onto an unexpected world. Welcome to Airelles Palladio, the first Italian property of the French group specialized in theatrical stays, with different “scripts” from Versailles to Saint-Tropez. And the set design certainly doesn’t lack detail. It took five years to bring the former convent, its cloisters and its secret gardens up to the state of the art. Airelles, whose stated mission is to redefine the highest level of hospitality, has carried out a highly ambitious project. One example? They purchased 10,000 antique pieces: chairs, trumeau mirrors, chests of drawers, sculptures, vases, engravings, paintings – that give personality to each of the 45 rooms and to the other spaces, including corridors that resemble museum galleries. French grandeur is in every detail, and the dining offer is a summary of the very best: Jean-Georges Vongerichten here with very Italian dishes and exotic spices; Nobu Matsuhisa with his delicious raw preparations; Norbert Niederkofler with his Cook the Lagoon project, built on short-range ingredients. And finally, a dessert menu and breakfasts signed by French pastry chef Cédric Grolet (if you’re not a dessert lover, you’ll probably change your mind). All excellent excuses to cross the canal and have a gourmet experience outside the Venetian ordinary. The other good reason is the Spa by Guerlain, spread over 1,700 square meters across three floors. Besides the usual treatments, there’s a Japanese infrared sauna that aids cellular regeneration.
3
Four Seasons Venice
Monsieur Pierre-Yves Rochon must have had a soft spot for the old Danieli, which under his direction has been transformed into a sumptuous new Four Seasons. Stripped of the boudoir-like atmosphere (gilding, brocades and red velvets) of his colleague Jacques Garcia, it’s as if the architect had switched on the lights in this legendary hotel, keeper of two centuries of Venetian hospitality history. Rochon chose the liquid colors of the lagoon, mirrors to add depth, Murano glass to add brilliance, and opened up the spaces: the lobby, now without a check-in desk, feels larger and shows off the staircase and Gothic-style arches. And finally, on July 30th, the historic wooden revolving door started working again, catapulting guests into a monument to be lived in all day long, with larger rooms, mosaic parquet floors, fine rugs and marble. Room 400 is emblematic: a suite with a lounge, dining area, and a giant bathroom with classical sculptures, its windows framing the Grand Canal and the island of San Giorgio. The view stretches across the whole city from the rooftop terrace, where the restaurant is entrusted to Adriano Rausa, the chef Ciccio Sultano had chosen for the excellent Giano in Rome.
4
Locanda Cipriani, Venice
There’s something moving about sleeping in the suite where Hemingway wrote Across the River and into the Trees, and dining where Queen Elizabeth II tasted every single dish because she couldn’t decide on the menu. It’s even more striking to know that many of those dishes – the seasonal vegetable risotto, for instance – can still be ordered at the historic inn, which reopened last June after a three-year renovation. And yet everything feels as if it has always been there. The new brocades, the modern wood paneling, the custom chandeliers, the brass fittings haven’t changed the timeless atmosphere. Whether it’s the period pieces, the original Bellini, the beauty of the garden with its enlarged vegetable patch and new rose garden, or the quiet of the suites (there used to be six, now there are ten), no one will doubt that this is still the Locanda Cipriani of old – only more contemporary, comfortable and refined, ready to write a new chapter in the story of Torcello. But, promise the heirs of its brilliant founder Arrigo, without breaking the bucolic magic that makes a happy sense of isolation possible.
5
The Lake Como Edition
Housed in a restored 19th-century palazzo on Lake Como’s western shore, with a private dock and a floating pool perched over the water, The Lake Como Edition opened in March 2026 opposite Bellagio’s famed promontory. Terrazzo floors, a sculptural marble staircase inspired by Carlo Scarpa, and rose-hued Dolomite plaster walls set a tone of restrained Italian grandeur throughout the 148 rooms and suites. At its helm is a rising star: Argentine-Italian chef Mauro Colagreco, three-Michelin-starred at his Riviera restaurant Mirazur, here marking his first Italian opening. A UNESCO Ambassador for Biodiversity known for eliminating plastic from his kitchens, Colagreco brings his circular, hyper-seasonal philosophy to Cetino, the hotel’s signature restaurant, alongside three further dining concepts across the property.
6
La Reserve, Florence
Parisians Grégory and Olivia Marciano seem like native Florentines, but they’re 100% Parisian. In 2020, they moved to the Tuscan capital with their three children to begin a new adventure, bringing a touch of French art de vivre with them. On Via Santo Spirito, in the Oltrarno, they bought a rundown 15th-century building and turned it into six stately residences, opening October 16th under the prestigious La Réserve hotel group, with interiors by studio Gilles & Boissier, known for villas, apartments and private yachts. The Marcianos’ idea is to make guests feel at home in Florence’s historic center, with the Ferragamos and Cavallis as neighbors. Beneath unremarkable false ceilings, renovation uncovered frescoes from different eras, now surrounding custom sculptural furniture, 150 artworks and antiques, and art books that make both the private apartments and shared spaces — lounge, library, fountain courtyard — unique. Guests can hire a private chef, order room service from restaurant Camillo, or take cooking classes with Harris Bar chefs, while Grégory and Olivia, true insiders, suggest hidden gems like their home tennis court and Arno boat aperitivos.
7
Borgo Pignano, Florence
Borgo Pignano Florence marks the urban debut of one of Italy’s most quietly exceptional hospitality brands. Set on the elegant hillside of Montughi, just minutes from the historic centre, the property occupies a restored 15th-century villa within five hectares of private parkland. Eleven buildings have been meticulously restored by Studio Ponsi of Florence, with interiors designed by Guy Oliver and Holly Hulburd, across 32 rooms and suites of unhurried, crafted elegance. Villa La Sosta, an independent five-bedroom residence with private pool, completes the offering for those seeking complete seclusion. At the table, Green Michelin Star chef Stefano Cavallini leads a culinary programme across two restaurants and two bars, rooted in seasonality, sustainability and the agricultural heritage of the Volterra estate. The Aromatica Spa, a 30-metre outdoor pool and five hectares of historic gardens, olive groves and fragrant woodland paths do the rest.
8
Palazzo Morocchi, Florence
Set to open in April 2026, Palazzo Morrocchi brings a richly layered slice of Florentine history back to life as a five-star hotel by Stanley Collection Hotels, in an enviable position on newly refreshed Via Cavour, just steps from the Duomo. Built in the 17th century, when Medici influence still shaped the city, the baroque palazzo later became a crucible of 19th-century artistic life: its famed Caffè Michelangelo was a meeting place for the Macchiaioli painters, whose radical ideas helped redefine Italian art. Today, that cultural legacy underpins a sensitive restoration that blends grandeur with contemporary elegance. The hotel will house 41 rooms, including 10 suites—two of them Signature Suites adorned with original frescoes—alongside an ambitious dining line-up, from Bubbles & Lobster and a Champagne & Raw Bar to afternoon tea in the courtyard, a cocktail-led Alchemist Bar, and a speakeasy-style rooftop for summer evenings.
9
Palazzo RUspoli, Florence
Steps from the Duomo, Palazzo Ruspoli has opened on Via de’ Martelli 5, bringing a quietly different kind of Florentine hospitality to one of the city’s most storied addresses. The building dates to the late 19th century, when Florence served as Italy’s capital, though its roots reach deeper: the site once housed the canonica of the Baptistery of San Giovanni. Architect Luigi Fragola has restored it with great intelligence combining a palette of deep, nuanced greens in dialogue with the city’s historic chromatics, reclaimed antique floors, hand-forged ironwork, and interiors that speak softly without losing their authority. Twelve rooms and suites, three independently configured apartments and a private panoramic terrace complete the offering.
10
Experimental Rome
The Rome of La Dolce Vita takes center stage again in a new hotel, but without the filter of nostalgia. Between Via Veneto and Piazza di Spagna, Experimental Roma opens on October 10th: 82 rooms and suites carved out of a former bank, designed by architect and interior designer Rodolphe Parente. The starting point is the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, when the city was the backdrop for a glamorous, cinematic Italy. But here the past isn’t nostalgically reconstructed — it’s remixed with contemporary materials and touches. In the rooms, intense colors, carpeting, drapery and references to historic architecture coexist with steel, mineral patinas and lacquered ceilings. On the walls, works that echo the artistic worlds of Cy Twombly, Christo and Ugo Ferranti pull the story into the present. The earthy, material-driven cuisine of Giovanni Passerini, back home from Paris, speaks to today too, while the cocktail club is the leitmotif of hospitality for the French group Experimental, founded in 2007 by three childhood friends. The rooftop pool, with a dip overlooking the Colosseum, is worth the trip on its own
11
Corinthia, Rome
Corinthia Rome has opened in the building that once housed the Bank of Italy, designed in 1914 by architect Marcello Piacentini and acquired in 2019 by Reuben Brothers. After a long and meticulous transformation, the hotel—embodying the group’s distinctive “grand boutique” concept—now spans 9,700 square metres across seven levels, adorned with precious marbles and frescoes. Its 60 rooms (including 21 suites) blend historic charm with contemporary craftsmanship, striking a perfect balance between restored heritage details and modern Italian design. The offering is completed by two restaurants, a bar, and a spa created within the former bank vault and inspired by the traditions of Roman baths. With this opening, chef Carlo Cracco arrives in Rome to oversee the entire gastronomic experience at Corinthia, in collaboration with Executive Chef Alessandro Buffolino. The hotel will feature three distinct dining concepts: Ocra Bar for drinks and light bites; Viride, the hotel’s signature restaurant celebrating contemporary Italian cuisine; and Piazzetta, set in the inner courtyard and serving traditional Roman dishes throughout the day.
