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If Tuscany is the polished aristocrat and the Amalfi Coast the extrovert demanding your undivided attention, Le Marche is the quietly brilliant rogue who never needed either. For travellers searching for undiscovered Italy, the real thing, unspoiled and unapologetic, this is where to begin.
Here, medieval hilltop towns guard their secrets behind ancient stone walls. Sheer limestone cliffs drop into clear water, hiding coves that feel reserved for the quietly curious. The food is brilliant and unselfconscious. The wine (Verdicchio from the chalky hills, Lacrima di Morro d'Alba from the valley floor) is as individual and surprising as the landscape that produces it.
Ancona hums with salt, history, and excellent espresso. The Renaissance city of Urbino stops you in your tracks. The Monti Sibillini rise into myth and wilderness. And everywhere, the unhurried rhythms of hidden Italy at its most authentic.
For travellers ready to leave the obvious itinerary behind, Le Marche rewards handsomely. Come prepared to be surprised, fed extraordinarily well, and very reluctantly to leave.
Abandoned vineyard farmhouse. Radical vision. Seven suites, an InArchitettura-awarded underground winery and an infinity pool above the Le Marche hills. Filodivino is exactly the kind of Italian hotel you thought didn't exist anymore.
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Cuboid, measured and precise, Casa Al Sole is emblematic of the Italian Rationalism architectural style of Italy in the 20s and 30s. Renovated with precision and scrupulous attention to detail, the house is a meticulous restoration of purity and simplicity.
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Crossing Corso Apartment is a luxury design pad in the heartlands of Rome set within a historic 18th-century palazzo townhouse, which poignantly resides behind the Piazza di Spagna.
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Hushed, located close to Milan's fashion district, this new townhouse-hotel bolthole is laced with a troupe of design heroes, heritage and curated artworks - a discreet little number for those who want to reside off-the-radar, but in the hum of Milan.
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Como’s crafted outsider – a modernist lakeside escape stitched into the land, made for lovers of design, detail and chilled luxury with a bold architectural soul.
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Once the home of devout Sisters, its aged cloistral heritage has been recast following an exacting narrative of preservation, reframing the monastic aesthetics for the modern nomad without corrupting the patina of austere beauty and timeworn touchpoints.
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A smooth design den pearled in white with an interior design that is eminently simple: a clean alpine aestheticism that borrows from Italian design, the Danish principles of hygge and a touch of sweet sophistication in the Japonesque detailing.
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Birch and smoked oak hug the thick walls and capture the house’s DNA from the days as a farmhouse barn. Once a resplendent Renaissance home to the Bishop and favoured lodgings for the merchant traders heading along the Romanesque Via Claudia Augusta.
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Rising up like delicate meringue-whipped peaks, mirroring the Dolomites panorama that surrounds it, the architecture and design of Hotel Milla Montis create an impact.
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A groovy icon from the seventies, Seehotel Ambach, presides over the shores of Lake Caldaro in Italy’s South Tyrol with its perfectly formed, curvaceous marshmallowy walls of laid-back glamour and a canvas of tangerine, vert and oxide red, which drape mid-century furniture pieces.
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Remodelled over the centuries, 'Cinematic Italian' is the interior design mantra that consummately knits the restored historical elements to the nostalgia, style and flamboyance from the height of Italian film and design of the 1960s.
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Sleep under medieval frescoes, sweep down labyrinthine corridors, lord it up on the lofty ramparts or stroll through the Mediterranean garden, admiring the ivy-clad castle backdrop.
Get the insider news and lowdown on what we've been up to, where we've been, and who we've met along the way. Be the first to discover new places and get the scoop on our favourites.