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Italy Hotel Reviews

Eat Your Heart Out at the Rosa Alpina

Where: Strada Micura de Ru 20, San Cassiano, Italy, 39030

December 19, 2006 at 11:29 AM | 0 Comments

Need a refreshing or relaxing break in the northern Italian alps and want luxury without the crowds? A recent Business Traveller review has sold us on the mountain village of San Cassiano in the Dolomites, and in particular the Rosa Alpina Hotel. Sitting in a village of just 700 people, and owned successively by three generations of the Pizzinini family, the Rosa Alpina hotel and spa complex sounds like it truly has what we mean when we talk about charm.

It's housed in one of the oldest buildings of the village, formerly a parish priest house--but these days instead of sparse priestly décor there are elegant rooms and a Michelin-starred restaurant that sounds especially tasty:

St Hubertus ... specialises in low-fat cuisine using ingredients from the surrounding area ... signature dishes include meadow-fed lamb from the Badia valley with beans and potato terrine, and local river trout poached in a mountain herbal broth with potato and chive purée ...  other dishes include risotto with apples and marinated sturgeon, fillet of red mullet with eggplant caviar served in an artichoke heart, and beef fillet poached in extra virgin olive oil served with truffle purée.

If it's not enough to live in luxury and ski whenever you want, surely that list will get your stomach over to Rosa Alpina. Beware that it is a seasonal hotel: open December to April for the snow, and again from June to September for a glorious fresh-air summer holiday.

Related Stories:
· Rosa Alpina Hotel reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Peak of Luxury [Business Traveller]