Torino 2006 Part Two: Anti-Torino?

Where: Italy

January 24, 2006 at 10:15 AM | by GEM0330 | Comments (0)

Forget Torino, forget the Winter Games, use the two week swarm on Torino to find yourself a room at some of the top hip hotels Italy has to offer, which are sure to be at least a little more empty than usual.

The London Times lists the "A-list travel expert" Herbert Ypma's top Italian hotel choices. He claims, and The Times agrees, that he

knows which Italian addresses that perfectly blend style, substance and setting.

Such as:
VILLA FELTRINELLI
Lake Garda-- This is Ypma's favorite hotel in the world, not just in Italy. Millions were spent on every room.

Yes, it's expensive, but two nights here are better than a month anywhere else.

HOTEL SIGNUM
Aeolian Islands-- Charming and very old Italy. The romantic film, Il Postino was shot near by.

It's not that this place is so luxurious (it isn't), but there's something very beautiful about its aesthetic.

This is where Jean Paul Getty planned to live out his years -- but then the Red Brigades kidnapped his grandson. Getty was so disgusted that he turned his back on Italy and sold the palazzo, which is how this extraordinary place came to be available to the paying guest.

Three more of Ypma's picks post-click

LOCANDA DELL'AMOROSA

Siena-- The town was an abandoned hilltop medieval estate that was gradually bought up by a disillusioned Milan advertising exec. Now the town is a hotel complex.

It's not styled to death -- in fact there are some pretty ugly buildings -- but that's part of the charm. It feels real.

PARCO DEI PRINCIPI
Amalfi Coast-- Enjoyed by architecture students and regular cliental, this hotel was designed by Gio Ponti, the Frank Lloyd Write of Italy.

SASSI HOTEL
Basilicata--

Has been created out of a series of simple peasant sassi (cave dwelling) homes and a couple of more ornate 18th-century buildings. So there's the facade with neoclassical detailing, then, literally 10ft beyond the entrance, it's a cave, where the organic forms of the original sassi are preserved in the breakfast room and bar -- although the bedrooms have been whitewashed.

Related Stories:
· The Hip Italian Hotel Collection [The London Times]

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