Palazzo Tirso Cagliari - MGallery

From the outside it’s clear that the Palazzo Tirso Cagliari is as traditional as they come — a 1920s Art Nouveau monument that stands proudly over the city’s harborfront. But appearances, of course, can be deceiving; what’s inside is not a ’20s restoration but a thoroughly contemporary luxury boutique hotel, designed by the Milan-based Studio Marco Piva in partnership with the furniture maker Poltrona Frau and managed by Accor’s MGallery collection.

The look is modernist-inspired, full of gently curving forms and bold blocks of color, with furnishings custom-designed by Poltrona Frau — whose founder, perhaps not incidentally, was born in Sardinia. The accommodations themselves range from conventional (and quite stylish) double rooms to split-level suites with lofted bedrooms, and even a vast presidential suite with a pair of private balconies.

In the building’s vault is a spa by L’Occitane, designed in a modern and colorful style that’s in keeping with the rest of the hotel’s interiors — Palazzo Tirso’s palette, viewed in this context, is almost Provençal. Its flavors, however, are pure Sardinia, available via the fine-dining TERRA or the more casual CIELO, set on the hotel’s terrace with a view of the Golfo dei Angeli.