Meltar Boutique Hotel

Parma, Bologna, Prosecco: a list of Italian destinations can sound, rather deliciously, like a glorious spread of antipasti and aperitivi. Diehard cheese enthusiasts will be pleased to learn that the Asiago Plateau is a real place — and a strikingly beautiful one at that — northwest of Venice in the province of Vicenza. And it gets better: there’s an excellent hotel up here in the mountains. Meltar Boutique Hotel is located inside a restored old farmhouse in the middle of, well, nowhere, making it a perfectly tranquil getaway from the tourist crush of the Veneto.

Technically, the hotel sits on a golf course. But other than a few manicured greens, there’s nothing but fields and woods and cross-country skiing trails as far as the eye can see. The hotel itself has just nineteen rooms. They’re surprisingly modern, if not exactly cutting-edge: each comes with an LCD TV and free wi-fi, but the building’s bones are old, and the architecture largely original to the 19th-century farmhouse. The look is cozy and rustic-chic: vaulted wood ceilings, parquet floors, romantic patterned wallpaper in a sophisticated palette of white, charcoal, taupe and ice-blue. Each offers unobstructed views of the surrounding landscape and mountains.

Meltar Boutique Hotel is about getting away from it all — and, to be fair, it’s also about the nothing-is-too-much-trouble staff, and the Turkish bath and spa. There’s a yoga center, if that’s your thing, and endless opportunities for skiing, in the winter, or enjoying that favorite Italian pastime, the passeggiata — a leisurely walk — anytime of year. Or you could stay close to the hotel and enjoy some cheese, or take a cooking class with Meltar’s chef: on request, you’ll tour local wineries and visit producers of wine and cheese to shop for your ingredients. If you have any appetite left after indulging in hand-rolled pasta and tiramisù, relax by the hotel’s elegant fireplace with a glass of Barbera. This is what Italians call il dolce far niente: the pleasure of doing nothing.

How to get there: Meltar Boutique Hotel is approximately 133 km by car from Venice Marco Polo Airport via A57, A4/E70, A31, and SP349.