Il Salviatino

"Although Il Salviatino has a Fiesole address—the neighborhood set along the hillside summer retreat of great Florentine families come and gone—this 44-room grand villa is actually located on the slope of the town’s famous hill (not the most atmospheric part). Nevertheless, once you’re on the hotel’s vast grounds, the panorama is still pretty spectacular. The 15th-century property itself is impressive, with a steep, white plaster façade, handsome common areas including an entrance hall with a vaulted brick ceiling (where carriage horses used to be housed), and a wood-paneled library with antique leather-bound volumes. The marvelously restored rooms have original details such as black-and-white-checkered marble floors and frescoed ceilings that are made comfortably modern with tufted leather headboards, TVs that cleverly double as oversized mirrors, and rain showers enhanced by LED lighting. One suite, the Affresco, has a bathtub shaped like a 12th-century stone sarcophagus—equally impressive a piece, but a little less claustrophobic. At night, silver candelabras and a sprinkling of outdoor lanterns illuminate the property. Dine on the terrace, where potato dumplings with white meat ragout are among the standouts. There is no formal check-in, but "service ambassadors" are concierges and butlers in one."