Bulgari Hotel Milano

The notion of a jeweler embarking on a hotel venture may smack of dilettantism, but a look at its century-plus history will show that Bulgari hasn’t gotten where it is today by wildly diversifying into a new business every year. And it just so happens that in this endeavor, they’ve had some quite expert help. The hotel is a joint venture with Ritz-Carlton, so expect no tentative first steps—this is a professional operation, not the fumbling first steps of an upstart.

Rooms are almost impossibly luxurious, in a way that is familiar (plush Frette-dressed beds, enormous black granite tubs) but is impressive in terms of sheer excess. Closets are palatial, perfectly suited to the style-conscious clientele, and gadgetry includes the expected flat-screen TV as well as a mobile phone programmed to the room’s extension. Some hotels boast about Bulgari bath amenities as a selling point—here, of course, it’s the house brand.

Perhaps unexpectedly for a smallish city boutique hotel, the Bulgari does have a restaurant, with a glass facade looking out onto the gardens of the grounds, formerly a monastery courtyard. Also accounted for are a spa, in a setting of emerald-green glass, and a swimming pool dressed in gold and green mosaic—again, two luxuries that might seem surprising were it not for the sheer overkill of this place.

The hotel is practically within a bejeweled arm’s length of some of Milan’s finest retailers and boutiques; its Brera location makes for easy access to the Golden Quadrangle, with Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and Armani, among others, all gathered together in one place. The hotel offers a personal shopping service to those overwhelmed by the variety—sometimes there’s just too much to buy and too little time. And if a shopping spree induces guilty feelings, there’s always the Duomo and La Scala, offering up some high culture to soothe your couture-addled soul.

Please note: Bulgari Hotel does not allow children 16 years old or under in the spa or pool area.