Masseria Torre Maizza

Puglia, Italy

• Style Spacious and gracious
• Setting Coast-hugging Pugliese countryside

Surrounded by a grove of ancient olive trees, the 16th-century Masseria Torre Maizza – sister hotel of nearby Smith favourite Masseria Torre Coccaro – has been brought bang up to date with a cool, contemporary décor.

Borgo Santo Pietro

Tuscany, Italy

• Style Classic-luxe Tuscan villa
• Setting Enchanting formal gardens

This refined boutique hotel near Siena in Tuscany is set in an antique-bedecked 13th-century villa – a stay at Borgo Santo Pietro will have you feeling like Italian aristocrats enjoying a lazy weekend away at their luxury country house.

• Smith Vintage

Continentale

Florence, Italy

• Style Bright and witty
• Setting Pole position by Ponte Vecchio

With its sleek minimalist design, the Continentale hotel in Florence is the very antithesis of Room With a View-style hotels, and it’s a hit with lovers of a contemporary vibe.

Il Salviatino

Florence, Italy

• Style Hip historic villa
• Setting Lush, leafy hillside

Il Salviatino – a ravishingly updated 15th-century villa high in the hills over Florence – has a museum’s stash of 19th-century frescoes, sarcophagus bath tubs and antique artworks.

Vigilius Mountain Resort

South Tyrol, Italy

• Style Modernist lodge
• Setting Dramatic Dolomites

Open-plan, yet cleverly divided with various partitions and simple, functional furniture, Vigilius Mountain Resort inbues minimalism with warmth and character.

Grand Hotel Villa Cora

Florence, Italy

• Style Renaissance of a masterpiece
• Setting Bordering on Boboli

There’s opulent, there’s spectacular, and then there’s Grand Hotel Villa Cora. This fresco-filled mansion on the leafy southern side of the Arno was originally built by a 19th-century aristo for his belle; it’s a love letter in art and architecture.

• Smith Vintage