If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR935.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Believe it or not, this is Milan's first member's club and, fittingly, it comes courtesy of Italian hospitality heavyweights. Casa CiprianiMilano takes some premium ingredients – a park-view palazzo (previously occupied by Domenico Caraceni then Gianni Campagna, two of Italy's most heralded master tailors), a panoramic indoor/outdoor namesake restaurant, a beautiful bellini-pouring bar, a state-of-the-art spa and fitness centre, a distinguished jackets-at-dinner dress code, enough polished wood panelling for a fleet of Riva Aquaramas – and folds in just 15 bedrooms (styled handsomely with a yacht-ish twist by designer Michele Bonan) to serve up a stay that cleverly joins the dots between grandioso residenza and peaceful pied-à-terre.
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A bottle of Cipriani prosecco; GoldSmiths also get a bowl of fresh fruit in their room
Noon; check-in is from 3pm (early check-ins and late check-outs are possible on request, subject to availability).
Prices
Double rooms from £880.79 (€1,029), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €5.00 per person per night on check-out.
More details
Rates don't include breakfast but you can enjoy a Continental breakfast for €35, or an indulgent American breakfast for €45. À la carte options are also available.
Also
There are accessible rooms available, just enquire when booking. All public areas are accessible, too.
At the hotel
In the hotel: full use of members' areas, butler service, gym, spa, use of the Casa Cipriani courtesy Maserati (subject to availability), and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: Lavazza coffee machines, minibar with free soft drinks and snacks, 50-inch 4K TV, and bespoke Casa Cipriani bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Some would be tempted to stuff as many rooms as possible into a building this statuesque but not here; there are just over a dozen and the resulting boutique-y feel is an impressive architectural sleight-of-hand. They all have the feel of a (sizeable) first-class cabin – nautical royal blue and white, polished mahogany panelling, marble counter tops, lofty mirrors, Murano glass – but we're still lusting after the statement Cipriani sofas with white piping present in the Signature and Executive suites.
Poolside
You won't be doing laps, or reclining next to it with a spritz, but deep in the basement here there's a soothe-the-senses flotation pool encased by pearlescent marble walls. It's just 45 centimetres deep, a toasty 33°C, and precisely salty enough to keep you buoyant. Around 20 minutes is the suggested dipping time, during which you'll forget all about the city streets above you.
Spa
As if the flotation pool wasn't tranquil enough, there are six treatment rooms set among some calming corridors and sporting some eye-catching design flourishes – for women there's a striking red-marble hammam, for men there's an onyx-hewn steam bath, and both feature Finnish saunas crafted from cedar.
Packing tips
As little as possible, if you're planning on going shopping – and you should; Milan's fashion and design stores are unsurpassed. For some fitting reading material, bring a copy of Brideshead Revisited which makes reference to Cipriani's very own Harry's Bar in Venice.
Also
The vintage fashion editorials, artistic nudes, and jazz-icon portraits that line the corridors and appear in rooms are all the work of Marco Glaviano, legendary Italian photographer and friend of the Ciprianis.
Pet‐friendly
Small dogs (up to 15kg) are allowed in rooms and in the Pickering Room but not in the Club Restaurant or Living Room. See more pet-friendly hotels in Milan.
Children
Bambini are welcome, if not specifically catered for. Babysitting can be arranged via the concierge and certain rooms can be configured for family stays. Do note that no under-18s are allowed in any Club spaces after 6pm though.
Sustainability efforts
The conversion of the protected Palazzo Bernasconi into Casa Cipriani was conducted sensitively and as sustainably as possible, rated as 'excellent' in all its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) impact categories. As well as eliminating the use of gas, using efficient heat pumps for heating and cooling, and using electric-only company vehicle, the group are working towards an ambitious carbon neutral goal by offsetting its own emissions with carbon credits from the Rimba Raya Reserve in Borneo, a protected tropical peat-swamp forest.
There's no such thing as a bad table at Cipriani, but, in spring and summer, a seat out on the terrace is surely one of the city's finest.
Dress Code
An actual one is in operation: no (men's) shorts, no graphic tees, no ripped jeans, no hoodies, no baseball caps, no sandals, no flip-flops, no athleisure, 'smart' sneakers only, and jackets at dinner for the gents. Just do as the Milanese do, basically.
Hotel restaurant
Of course, the Cipriani brand has become a global success, but this is home soil so its finessed Northern Italian classics, served here in the sumptuous polished-wood-and-white-table-cloth surrounds of the Club Restaurant, just hit different, as they say. (Carpaccio, by the way, was a Cipriani invention – it would be remiss not to order one.) At the restaurant's front is a colonnaded terrace overlooking the leafy Giardini Indro Montanelli and the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano within. At its rear is a discreet private dining room reminscent of the very chicest of Captain's tables. The Living Room takes residence on the top floor, and is the place for more intimate drinks, snacks, and late-night dancing. On the ground floor, the ornate Pickering Room (so called for Harry Pickering, the young American for whom Giuseppe Cipriani named his orignal Venice bar) serves pizza, pasta, salads and more throughout the day.
Hotel bar
Some 150-ish miles to the east, some time in the late Thirties, signor Cipriani first served the iconic peach-and-prosecco blend that helped secure the family name a place in bartending canon. While the exact recipe remains a closely guarded secret to this day, we know that anything other than a white peach is a no-no. Sip one at aperitivo hour, lunchtime – hell, even breakfast time – in the decorous, double-height Pickering Room, which also has its own foliage-clad 'winter garden' enclave. If you're all bellini'd out, they'll shake and stir all the classics with peerless panache (as the Cipriani logo would suggest).
Last orders
The Pickering room, the Living Room, and the Club Restaurant all serve lunch from noon-3pm and dinner from 7pm until 10pm; drinks are served until midnight, and until 2am in the Living Room (Tuesday-Saturday)
Casa Cipriani is on the corner of Via Palestro and Corso Venezia just north of Milan's Quadrilatero della Moda shopping district.
Planes
Milan is served by three airports so it's always worth double checking where you're flying in to/out from. Linate is the closest to the city centre, only about 15 minutes by car from the hotel. Malpensa, to the north-west, is about 50 minutes (and there's an easy connecting train from Milano Centrale). Bergamo is the furthest away, about an hour's drive. The hotel can arrange transfers from all three on request.
Trains
Two metro stations, Palestro and Porta Venezia, are both short walks away – ideal for getting around town or changing for airport connections.
Automobiles
There's a private garage nearby where guests' cars can be safely valeted for €60 a day.
Worth getting out of bed for
You're in the right city for a wardrobe refresh: Prada, Bottega Veneta, Missoni, Etro, Miu Miu and Marni are just a few of the local labels with stores in the surrounding Quadrilatero della Moda shopping district (and the latter's flagship on Via Montenapoleone is a space-age disco marvel in its own right). You'll want a whole house refresh after a visit to the nearby Villa Necchi Campiglio: the 1930s Piero Portaluppi-designed residence of its namesake high-society family, preserved as a time-capsule of particularly impeccable mid-century taste (and a key location in House of Gucci and Luca Guadagnino's I Am Love). The nearby Fondazione Luigi Rovatiis the newly modernised palazzo home for the Etruscan rarities collected by the Italian physician and researcher; their basement viewing chamber is a work of art in itself. In the south of the city, Fondazione Prada plays host to a rotating program of art in various mediums – as well as the much-Instagrammed Wes Anderson-designed café, Bar Luce. Closer to 'home' is the Pinacoteca di Brera: the city's most expansive collection of Italian painting through the ages, with works from Caravaggio, Tintoretto, Titian, and the man who leant his name to the drink, Bellini, among others. The cloistered builiding is also home to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, so you may stumble on the odd art lecture. At its rear is the Orto Botanico di Brera: as peaceful a garden oasis as you could hope for in a city. Keep your eyes peeled when walking past Villa Invernizzi – although you can't go into its gardens, you can spy on its unlikely residents: a flock of flamingoes. There's also the park and the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano (modelled on London's Natural History Museum, in fact) right in front of you,
Local restaurants
Just across the street, on the top floor of Fondazione Luigi Rovati, you'll find the much revered RistoranteAndrea Aprea, where signore Aprea serves multi-course tasting tours of inventive Italian fare, worthy of its museum surrounds. With its vaulted ceilings, stone columns, the odd statue, and panes of stained glass, dining at Boeucc is decadent before you even see the food. The menu more than measures up though – try the Costoletta di vitello. La Bricola goes big on striking interiors, too, and chef-owner Gianni Battista Valveri serves up classics with a smile. Biceis the style-set's go-to during Fashion Week, and the local's go-to every week; many claim its risotto alla Milanese is the best in town… Although you'll also find a fair few votes for Trattoria Masuelli San Marco (its multicoloured Murano glass chandeliers are quite fetching, too). Seafood fans should have Langosteria high on their list, and there's also Langosteria Cucina, and Langosteria Bistrot if a table's hard to come by. For a low-key lunch in the most classic of settings, try and beat the queues at Latteria di San Marco: a bijou former creamery that feels like a nonna's kitchen (no bookings; doors open at 12:30). And If you're nice to the concierges at the hotel, they might just supply you with a list of Cipirani family favourites in the city (we hear they're partial to the fritto misto at La Risacca 6, for one)…
Local cafés
There's a peaceful garden at the back of Fondazione Luigi Rovatiwhere you'll find Andrea Aprea's more laid back Caffé Bistrot, a soothing spot for a coffee, a beer, or an artfully deconstructed club sandwich. Within the grounds of Villa Necchi Campiglio is the suitably chic Caffetteria Villa Necchi Campiglio, serving simple salads, pastas, desserts, coffees and cocktails. Want to grab a quick bite on the move? De Santis has been serving Milan's finest panini since 1964. There are three outposts of Marchesi, the now Prada-owned café group, which have been the name for coffee and pastries since the early 1800s – the one on Via Montenapoleone is a particular feast for the eyes.
Local bars
Have you really been to Milan if you don't stop in for a ludicrously oversized negroni spaglatio at Bar Basso? We'd say no. As it happens, it was an ex-Harry's bartender, Mirko Stocchetto, who took the reins in 1967 and Milan's original aperitivo bar was born; its signature drink the result of a simple 'whoops that was meant to be gin not proscecco' mishap, hence its name – sbagliato literally means 'wrong'. Talking of names, Nottingham Forest is not dedicated to the on-pitch exploits of Cloughie, Stuart Pearce, Morgan Gibbs-White et al, rather it's a globally minded cocktail bar of serious distinction. Elsewhere, sip Campari at source (and what a source) at Camparino in Galleria, refresh yourself poolside at Ceresio 7, and add a bit of sophistication to your afternoon in the Navigli with a tipple at the eclectically styledDoping Club.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this sophisticated city crashpad and unpacked their Marni outfits and designer objets, a full account will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a sneak peek inside Casa Cipriani…
Some places suggest a sense of occasion as soon as you arrive; Casa Cipriani is one of them. For one, its Palazzo Bernasconi home is one of significance, serving as the atelier/HQ for tailoring titans Domenico Caraceni, then Gianni Campagna (so the fact a jackets-at-dinner dress code remains seems fitting) and occupying an enviable corner of Corso Venezia.
For two, well, there's the name. Since 1931, when Harry's Bar opened in Venice and played host tto Hemigway, Hitchcock, Capote, Chaplin, and Clooney (not all at the same time), the Cipriani family have been hospitality A-listers.
That the family branched out into hotels was no surprise. Although this is more than just a hotel; this is the very first member's club to open in Milan. And by sporting just 15 rooms, it maintains a distinctly private feel – stay the night, of course, and you're an honorary member until check out. You can unwind in the subterranean spa, sip till the small hours up in the Living Room, recline on your Italian-made mattress and admire designer Michele Bonan's chic Riva-esque styling, or do as the Milanese gods intended: settle in for the longest of lunches on the park-spying terrace and toast to the finer things in life (with a bellini, natch).
