The 20 Best Hotels in Italy: 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards

"The Splendido Mare, once a fishermen’s guesthouse, is the 14-room harborside sister of Belmond’s Splendido, a hillside hideout that started life as a Benedictine monastery before becoming a hotel in 1901, then a magnet for movie stars (Elizabeth Taylor had four honeymoons there). Its makeover, by in-demand Parisians Charlotte de Tonnac and Hugo Sauzay, is exquisite—local terra-cotta tiles and nautical nods, such as the knots woven into headboards in quietly lavish rooms, with Gio Ponti armchairs and rich Loro Piana fabrics. Everything is done subtly, almost unnoticeably, and there’s a deceptive simplicity to the cooking of brothers Enrico and Roberto Cerea. Their restaurant in Bergamo has three Michelin stars, but here they stick mostly to seafood and Ligurian classics, including a sublime pesto trofie. This is Portofino, after all, which is above all discreet—a place where the actors and the aperitivo-sipping locals don’t much bother one another." - Nicholas DeRenzo, CNT Editors