Grand Hotel Continental Siena - Starhotels Collezione

Siena is, on the one hand, a time machine, a meticulously preserved medieval city, known for its artworks and architecture, and ever-popular with travelers of all nationalities. But people live here too; and alongside its medieval fortifications and Renaissance palazzos is a thriving boutique and cafe culture to rival any of Italy's modern cities.

Today's Grand Hotel Contintental is Siena's top luxury hotel, and the only hotel of its kind in the heart of the city, just off the pedestrian-only Piazza del Campo. The building was converted from a grand aristocratic residence, the seventeenth-century Palazzo Gori, and has been restored and refurbished — but not redesigned. All of the original details remain, the frescoes are brighter than ever, and the ballroom is as grand as it must have been three hundred years ago.

The rooms are every bit as opulent as the public spaces, each one individually designed, with frescoed or beamed ceilings, terracotta floors, and period artworks and furnishings — though modern touches like internet access and satellite TV make this a modern hotel. The restaurant, Sapordovino, is splendidly set beneath the palazzo's glass-domed courtyard, and the wine bar is a surprisingly stylish option. The only caveat, owing to the space restrictions in Siena's historic downtown — though the hotel does offer such niceties as a swimming pool and tennis courts, these are actually a short shuttle ride away, at the Grand Hotel Continental's sister property on the outskirts of town.