Italy has more great hotels than any country in Europe, but the list of the truly extraordinary is shorter than the marketing suggests. Below is the ZOMA ranking of the properties we book most across the seven regions our clients ask for most: Lake Como, Amalfi and Positano, Venice, Rome, Portofino and the Ligurian coast, Tuscany, and Puglia. Not the biggest list; the honest one.
Lake Como - Passalacqua leads, Grand Hotel Tremezzo endures
Passalacqua in Moltrasio opened in 2022 and immediately became the most-booked luxury hotel on Lake Como. Twenty-four rooms in an 18th-century villa restored by the De Santis family (of Grand Hotel Tremezzo), with the best hotel gardens on the lake and a swimming pool cut into the terraced lawn above the water.
Grand Hotel Tremezzo remains the classic - the sister property, larger and more traditional, with the T Beach floating pool on the lake. For a two-hotel Como trip we book Passalacqua for four nights and add two nights at the new Lake Como EDITION in Cadenabbia for the contemporary counterpoint.
The Amalfi Coast - Il San Pietro and Le Sirenuse
Il San Pietro di Positano remains our first recommendation on the Amalfi Coast. Fifty-nine rooms carved into the cliff two kilometres south of Positano, with the best hotel restaurant in the region (Zass, by Alois Vanlangenaeker) and a private beach reached by hotel elevator. It is the most residential of the coast's grand hotels.
Le Sirenuse in Positano itself is the alternative - louder, more central, with the Franco's Bar terrace that has been the Positano living room for forty years. Book Le Sirenuse for the town experience; book Il San Pietro for the peace.
Venice - Aman and the Gritti Palace
Aman Venice occupies the Palazzo Papadopoli, a 16th-century Grand Canal palazzo restored with much of its frescoed ceilings and gilt-leather walls intact. Twenty-four suites, some with private canal views, a garden that is one of the largest in the city, and a level of service that Venice - a city not always synonymous with service - could not previously deliver.
The Gritti Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, is the classic alternative - Grand Canal frontage, the Riva Aquarama transfer boat and the Gritti Bar terrace for aperitivo. For a first Venice trip we book Aman; for a repeat, the Gritti.
Rome, Portofino, Tuscany and Puglia - the completing pieces
Rome: Hotel de Russie (Rocco Forte) between Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps, or the newly-opened Six Senses Rome on Piazza di San Marcello for a contemporary alternative. Bulgari Hotel Roma is the design choice.
Portofino: Belmond Splendido and its harbour-front sister Splendido Mare. Tuscany: Castiglion del Bosco (Rocco Forte) or Borgo Santo Pietro. Puglia: Borgo Egnazia or the smaller Masseria Torre Coccaro. For a first Italy trip, one hotel per region and no fewer than four nights each.
Plan with ZOMA
Want this trip, with the perks?
We layer complimentary upgrades, daily breakfast, hotel credits and VIP recognition onto every qualifying stay.
Start Planning
