Mr & Mrs Smith

Palazzo Victoria

Verona, Italy

A mediaeval-modern mash-up dominates Palazzo Victoria hotel, where Roman ruins, Ionic pillars and 14th-century frescoes share space with white-leather sofas, projector screens and walls clad in concrete and acid-green lichen. There’s a Michelin-starred chef in the kitchens, a pool table in the salon, and white-and-gold Jacuzzis in the shiny marble bathrooms.

Need to know

• Rooms 70, including 12 suites.
• Rates Double rooms from $328.81 (€255), excluding tax at 10 per cent.
  The price shown represents the lowest nightly rate for a double room available at this hotel over the next 21 days. Any price conversions from the hotel's local currency (€255) have been conducted using today's exchange rates from xe.com.
• More details Rates include a generous Continental buffet breakfast (save room for the ricotta and berry pancakes, or the cheese and courgette tart). Cooked options are extra.
• Facilities Projector screen in the lobby for film screenings, pool table, gym with bikes and benches, free WiFi, private parking (€35 a night). In rooms: flatscreen TV and minibar stocked with local treats.
• Check-out 12 noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 2pm.
• Children Little Smiths aged 12 and under can stay for free. Colouring pencils, pens and colouring books are given to anklebiters on arrival. They’re also welcome in the restaurant, which has high chairs; the chef will happily adapt the menu for tots’ tastes.
• Also Small, well-behaved dogs can come too at no extra charge.

Food and drink at Palazzo Victoria

• Hotel restaurant

  The airy grey-and-white Corso Porta Borsari brasserie has an open kitchen, big windows and clusters of white tables topped with rosemary sprigs in little loop vases. The seating is a relaxed mishmash of Lucite and wooden chairs; potted olive trees add splashes of colour. As well as a glittering knife collection, chef Carmine Caló (whose moto is ‘ingredients and imagination’) has a Michelin star. Put your trust in Carmine and opt for the tasting menu: light, elegant dishes that rely on Italy’s best produce – eggs from hens reared on goat’s milk, ricotta sourced from Sicily and so on. Some of the most popular wines are displayed on the vintage apothecary cabinet at the back. Ask the sommelier to talk you through the grapes.

• Dress code Very relaxed, but you’ll feel better for making the effort: a soft, clinging dress/loose shirt and chinos will do nicely.
• Top table Sit at the round table in the corner by the windows and olive trees. There are also tables outside and in another alfresco area close to the lobby. For drinks, we like the pool room or the romantic little passageway with a wall made from blue wooden doors
• Last orders The breakfast buffet is available between 7am and 11am; lunch is served from 12.30pm until 3pm; dinner is 7pm until 11pm.
• Room service A selection of pastas, salads and desserts can be prepared around the clock (we recommend ordering the wonderful deconstructed tiramisu and enjoying it in bed).
• Hotel bar

  There’s a dark and romantic little bar with an excellent selection of local wines (many produced by Allegrini, with whom the hotel enjoys a fruitful partnership). Alternatively, sit in the masculine salon post-pool with a whisky or cocktail and admire the chequered floor and the artefacts; on cold days, pull up a chair beside the arty fireplace.

Palazzo Victoria Via Adua 8, Verona (VR), Veneto, 37121