Il Salviatino

A five-star villa hotel in the hills of Fiesole above Florence, with 39 rooms, Duomo views, a spa in the old greenhouse and a garden by Michelangelo Pistoletto.

Il Salviatino is a villa in the hills of Fiesole, about ten minutes above Florence, and it has passed through some famous hands. It began as a 14th-century farmhouse. In the 15th century the Bardi family rebuilt it as a palace, the Palagio dei Tegliacci, and in the 16th Alamanno Salviati added the frescoes and furnishings that gave the villa its name.

The 20th century brought the guest list. The critic and journalist Ugo Ojetti made the villa his home and ran a salon here, with Salvador Dalí and Gabriele D’Annunzio among the visitors. Stanford University later used it as its Italian headquarters through the 1970s and 1980s, before the Rovati family restored it as a hotel.

There are 39 rooms and suites, from Superior rooms up to Grand Suites made by joining two suites together. Owner and creative director Alessandra Rovati Vitali curates every one, mixing classic, mid-century and modern pieces with the villa’s old bones. Bathrooms have deep soaking tubs and Diptyque amenities. Some rooms look straight at the Duomo; the rest look over the park, the Italian garden or the Tuscan hills.

Dinner is at Da Giacomo al Salviatino, a Florence outpost of Milan’s Giacomo restaurants. Giacomo has been cooking since 1958. Expect the daily catch and Tuscan dishes on a panoramic terrace, or indoors in the Sala Affresco when the evenings cool. Seasonal produce comes from Il Terzo Paradiso, a permaculture garden of more than 3,000 plants that reworks Michelangelo Pistoletto’s three-circle symbol, made with Galleria Continua. Before dinner, Rosa Bar mixes the cocktails and aperitivi.

The Aquae Vitali Spa fills the villa’s former greenhouse with a hammam, saunas, a 36°C hydromassage pool and an ice bath, and its facials use Augustinus Bader skincare. Outside, heated infinity pools cascade through the park. The one compromise is distance: Florence is a shuttle ride away rather than outside the door, though the hotel runs complimentary shuttles through the day.

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