Mr & Mrs Smith

While some Americans’ image of Australia probably consists of Oprah waving from the Sydney Harbour Bridge, surrounded by never-ending desert and cheeky kangaroos, those I know who’ve heard of Melbourne talk passionately about it alongside cities such as Paris or Barcelona.

Mrs Smith and I have been living in New York for the past few years but both our families are still located in Victoria’s bayside capital. On our most recent return home we chose to stay at Villa Donati, a boutique hotel in Richmond, one of the city’s smartest neighbourhoods. Now, not shacking up with the relatives was a controversial move, but would it prove to be a wise one?

Richmond sits smack between Melbourne’s main cultural centres, east of the CBD’s sophisticated downtown laneways, to the north of Chapel Street’s shop-and-spend district and south of Fitzroy’s hipster fizz. It also happens to be a perfect and politically tenable distance between both our families' suburbs, solving the age-old dilemma of how to split our time between our folks.

After a whirlwind spell at Sydney Fashion Week, we arrive at Villa Donati in the evening, easily parking out front underneath the leafy-green English elms that line Church Street as it ascends Richmond Hill. The entrance to the hotel epitomises all that is good about Melbourne. It’s grand and welcoming with white Victorian arches and pillars, but without any overt sense of pretension, so that you feel as though you’ve arrived at a carefully curated world that’s an extension of your own. The foyer exudes the same ambience: hardwood floors gleam beneath woven rugs and elegantly crafted chairs and furnishings, stretching all the way to the second-storey lounge which faces the city’s skyline.

Bonding over our mutual appreciation of high ceilings, Mrs Smith and I add our spacious, ground-floor Deluxe room to our collective memory of hotels around the world that allow you thinking space. With refined furniture and a private courtyard clearly visible from the bed and ensuite, the general feeling of easy-going comfort fits in with the hotel’s subtly seductive character. Each morning we wake to the sound of twittering birds, trees rustling against an ivy-adorned wall and a comforting expanse of grey sky that inevitably makes way for a crisp blue by early afternoon.

Staying at a hotel in your home city may seem like an indulgent luxury, available only to those with too much money or too little to do, but we end up relishing it. It’s perhaps a shame that modest Melburnians rarely visit hometown hotels. Unlike other cities, where the best hotels flaunt stylish bars and lounges superior to local venues, Melbourne’s choice of drinking dens and restaurants is so extensive that you can find a hot new haunt every night of the week.

Nostalgically, we visit some favourites: a breakfast better than anything Brooklyn has to offer at Mixed Business in Clifton Hill; lunch at Cavallero on Smith Street, which includes a mosaic of meats assembled by artisan butchers; coffee and baked eggs at Min Lokal on George Street in Fitzroy; dinner at Mirka in St Kilda, owned by iconic Melbourne chef Guy Grossi. Each encounter is enhanced by the frisson that we’ll return at night to Villa Donati under our guise as tourists.

Villa Donati is definitely not your typical hotel, though. Rather than being handed a menu in the intimate breakfast room, we are asked: ‘What do you feel like having?’ The personal approach extends to the condiments presented each morning, all from local producers. And whoever did the savvy interior design has a real eye for classic detail; each special couch and chair makes us feel like we’re missing out by living in the 21st century. To cap it off, our concierge clearly has an extensive knowledge of Melbourne but offers smartly honed suggestions only upon request.

As such, Villa Donati isn’t the kind of experience you should sign up for if you’re looking to revisit your Ibiza nightclubbing years. Rather, it’s a home-from-home enabling you to enjoy the best of an Australian city that rewards curiosity. And, as it turns out, the hotel proves to be the perfect olive branch and conversational distraction for both our families. There are no sullen looks or guilt trips as we wax lyrical over our lodgings to respective in-laws. In fact, we may have inspired them to book some future hometown adventures of their own.