Casa Iris Bed and Breakfast

"A restored 15th-century palazzo in Orbetello, offering a modern B&B experience with historical frescoes."

"Orbetello The location: Orbetello, a small, walled coastal town on a lagoon and a peninsula, Grosseto, once the site of an ancient Etruscan settlement; located midway between Florence and Rome Top amenities: Breakfast served, highly personal service from the two owners This luxurious, all-done-up bed and breakfast, set in a peach colored palazzo on the town's main drag, is highly personal, with just three bedrooms inside and the owners filling the roles of concierges. Before they purchased it, the 15th century property was full of historic frescoes—the owners proceeded to hire a restorer who had worked on the Sistine Chapel to make it their own. A cozy breakfast is served to guests in the communal kitchen, featuring fresh apricot jam; and the rooms are works of art, with walls whose historic layers of paint have been scraped into designs." - Alex Erdekian

"While old-school Italian seaside destinations such as Capri and Portofino can seem stuck, Tuscany’s Maremma is shining ever brighter. At the heart of this stretch of long beaches backed by rolling olive-and-wine country is Orbetello, a laid-back town in Grosseto with something of a Spanish feel, scenically set on an isthmus in a coastal lagoon. And at the heart of Orbetello is Casa Iris, this rising destination’s first truly chic place to stay. With the help of Giorgia Cerulli, the interiors eye behind Rome’s G-Rough hotel, owners James Valeri and Matthew Adams have created a one-off design mix: a brilliant blend of Art Deco, mid-century modern, and ’70s eclecticism in the furniture and fittings picked up at shops, fairs, and markets across Italy. And it’s perfectly in keeping with the meticulous spirit of Casa Iris that Valeri and Adams should have asked a specialist who worked on the Sistine Chapel to restore the frescoes, which date from the 18th to early 20th centuries. But what makes Casa Iris really special is that it is essentially a three-bedroom family apartment—with a powder-blue kitchen where breakfast is served, starring homemade jams from the garden of the Valeri family’s Monte Argentario house. Staying here doesn’t feel remotely like checking in to a hotel. It feels like being allowed inside one of Italy’s most stylish private homes. FLASH POINT Get involved in Orbetello’s post-beach aperitivo scene with some persuasive nibbles at Barakà on Via Vincenzo Gioberti. +39 392-529-8010; casairisorbetello.com. Doubles from about $160." - CNT Editors

"Set the scene.A handsome pale apricot palazzo in Orbetello’s main pedestrian street. Inside is an old-fashioned Italian family apartment—which is exactly what it was—with just three bedrooms, decorated with historic frescoes and wall paintings. What’s the story behind it?Owners Matthew Adams and James Valeri fell in love with Orbetello, which is about as far as you can get from their previous home in high-pressure New York. James had a family connection with the area: he’s Anglo-Italian, and his parents have a summer house on the Argentario peninsula not far from Orbetello. It’s in a palazzo built in bits between the 15th and 17th centuries, when Orbetello was under Spanish rule. It was a bit of a mess when they found it, but still stunning, with its frescoed and painted walls and ceilings. Impressively—as this is at heart just a three-room B&B—they drafted in a restorer who had worked on the Sistine Chapel (Maria Rosaria Basileo) and Giorgia Cerulli, the interior designer responsible for Rome’s G-Rough hotel, which Matthew and James admire for the way it plays mid-century modern design off against a ‘raw’ historic container. What can we expect from our room?The largest of the three en-suite bedrooms is a lovely, luminous, high-ceilinged room called Aquamarina, with pale green-blue walls restored. All rooms have walls like this, restored using the scialbo technique—carefully scraping back layers of paint to create a kind of restorer’s Abstract Expressionist canvas. Beds are firm with crisp cotton sheets, the bathroom has both shower and tub (always a plus in our book) and some lovely hexagonal mirror tiles arranged in a kind of beehive pattern. What stands out in all the rooms is the eye for detail—the blushing pink armchair in our room was a lovely touch, but every one had something similar. We’d be happy to room-hop. How about the food and drink?Breakfast is the only meal served here—but what a breakfast. It’s eaten perched on stools in the communal kitchen, which is one of many touches that makes you feel more like a guest at a very discreet house party. The apricot jam is made by James’ father from fruit in the garden of his place on the Argentario peninsula, but pretty much everything on the table is either homemade or locally sourced—and it changes seasonally too. Anything to say about the service?The service is Matthew and James: helpful, friendly, full of good advice on restaurants and things to do, but also aware of personal space. There’s no room service but there are dozens of bars and restaurants in the surrounding streets—including, just around the corner, Caccia e Pesca, a good upmarket trattoria that Matthew recommended. Who comes here?When you’ve lived in New York and have the kind of contacts in the fashion, design, media and art worlds that Matthew and James do, a steady intake of a certain type of clientele is guaranteed. The fun thing is that many of the international crew who come here have no idea where Orbetello is, they just know that if these two have done something there, it will be perfect. We’re also guessing that there’s a small niche of people who love Orbetello already but have never found the right place to stay there—or who have actually never stayed there, only passed through, because there was never anywhere worth staying. How does it fit into the neighborhood?The walled town of Orbetello is the middle, bulging knuckle on an isthmus connecting rocky Argentario (once an island) to the Tuscan coast. This used to be an easily defended maritime outpost, under Spanish rule for centuries—something that comes through in a certain Balearic vibe. Orbetello is all ochre and pastel houses, palm-edged piazzas, kids playing soccer in the streets, cafés and trattorias with outside tables. It feels like summer even in winter. And Casa Iris is right at the start of the main pedestrian street. Going to Orbetello is making a statement: It’s rejecting the gated villas and the monied yawn of Argentario and choosing to be where people live a simpler kind of dolce vita. Anything you'd change?Not really. Perhaps some bicycles, as this is one of those rare Italian seaside destinations where it’s better to cycle to the beach than drive. That said, there’s a bike hire shop just around the corner. Anything we missed?Did we mention this is a luxe B&B? So don’t expect room service, turndown or the rest. What you do get, in the owners, are two concierges who are even better than hotel concierges, because they’re in tune with what most of their guests will like and enjoy. Worth it? Why?Definitely worth it, because this is quite simply one of the classiest retro-contemporary design accommodations to have opened in Italy in the last few years. High-season prices are creeping up however, so try to come outside of July and August for the best value." - Lee Marshall

"Casa Iris must be the only bed and breakfast in the world to share a renovation team with the Sistine Chapel. Located in southern Tuscany in Orbetello, a peninsula surrounded by a lagoon, the B&B is a 16th century palazzo owned by stylist James Valeri and his husband Matthew Adams. After the house, which has been in Valeri's family for a century or so, was bought by the couple, they left New York's East Village for Italy to turn the palazzo into the perfect B&B." - Mark Holgate