Vico Milano

The first wave of Milanese boutique hotels were grand gestures, tasked with representing Italy’s design capital to the world. Vico Milano, by contrast, is a more personal vision, a small-scale hideaway by a family that also owns the Castello di Vicarello in Tuscany. More personal, yes, but no less stylish — its public spaces are dazzling, filled with design furniture and contemporary art, while its seven rooms and suites are handsome in a more relaxed way, delicately balanced between sparse simplicity and organic warmth.

It’s set in a location that’s somehow both central and tucked-away, a mile to the southwest of the Duomo, in a building that was once a bicycle workshop and then a fashion atelier. This industrial heritage didn’t stop Vico Milano’s designers from achieving an authentically residential atmosphere; it’s complemented by modern-luxe boutique-hotel details like Lavazza espresso makers and Aesop bath products.

Vico Milano does without a restaurant, but its House Bar is a highlight. Small but beautiful, it serves gin and tonics and negronis as well as a variety of Champagnes and Italian wines, with a particular focus on those produced by the estate of sister property Castello di Vicarello.