Hotel Calimala

When it comes to the dramatic, almost reckless combination of old and new, there’s still no one quite like Italy’s boutique hoteliers. In the case of Florence’s Hotel Calimala, they’ve got an ally in British/Israeli designer Alex Meitlis, of Ottolenghi restaurant fame, whose interiors here mix original architectural features like crumbling stone walls with custom-designed modern furniture and lighting. And of course they start with some pretty promising raw material: an ornate and beautifully weathered 19th-century palazzo on Via Calimala, right in the heart of the city’s historic center.

The aim was to create a place that’s unmistakably Florentine without resorting to any overt Renaissance references, and in that it’s a resounding success — the artwork here is all contemporary, by local artists, and is for sale, if you fancy a souvenir. There’s a rooftop bar and restaurant that serves as the venue for everything from breakfast to aperitivi to dinner and beyond, as well as a little plunge pool to take the edge off those summer afternoons. And while the Calimala itself offers something of a novel perspective on this heavily-traveled city, the hotel’s location means all the familiar sights are always close at hand.