It List 2022: Our Editors' Picks of the Best New Hotels in the World

16/04/2022, TRAVEL +LEISURE

Il Tornabuoni — Florence, Italy

Florence is home to fashion brands like Salvatore Ferragamo and Emilio Pucci, the menswear trade show, Pitti Uomo, and a vibrant craft workshop scene, all of which puts it on par with Milan as Italy's best shopping city. The difference is that Florence is—let's face it—a lot easier on the eyes. Need proof? Step off the city's upscale retail passeggiata, Via Tornabuoni, walk through the doors of this 62-room five-star hotel, then take the elevator to the fourth floor. From the hotel's Butterfly Bar terrace, the city is a dazzling Renaissance diorama in ochre, terra-cotta, and marble. But art and history also flourish inside this converted 12th-century palazzo: take the Lorenzo Il Magnifico suite, covered from wall to ceiling in astonishingly well-preserved 18th-century frescoes. Mostly, though, the first of Hyatt's Unbound Collection properties in Italy feels glamorously modern, as bold in its patterns and color schemes as an Alessandro Michele-era Gucci jacket. With streetside tables, the ground-floor Magnifico café and restaurant are drawing in locals, too, for chef Danilo Vitale's simple, delicious dishes, like the spaghetti with tuna, cherry tomatoes, olives, and capers (a slam dunk with Florentines, who don't generally go for fancy food). hyatt.com; doubles from $400. — Lee Marshall