Grand Hotel et de Milan

Milan may be the most fashion-forward city in Italy, the couture capital, and the center of industrial progress as well—but this is still Italy, after all, and there’s always room for a little bit of ancient history. Nothing industrial or futuristic about it: the Grand Hotel et de Milan is every bit as traditionally elegant as the La Scala theater, which is just a few steps away—and this location surely played a crucial role in the hotel’s history, as such famous names as Nureyev, Callas, and Caruso have graced its guestbook. Most notoriously, Giuseppe Verdi spent 27 years here, including his last and the public rooms are almost exactly as he left them, filled with antique furnishings, marble floors, and Oriental rugs. Guest rooms are just as impressive, all rich fabrics and period furniture, some in nineteenth-century style, others in art deco or art nouveau. The Suite 105 is the room where Maestro Verdi lived and died. There are certainly more daring, more modern hotels, smaller boutiques, and more fashionable places to lay one’s head, but if it was good enough for Verdi, it should be good enough for you, too!