HIP Hotels Italy

"You can have the universe, if I can have Italy," said
Giuseppe Verdi. This sounds generous, but Verdi knew

that Italy is a universe — diverse, beautiful and filled with
the relics of two millennia of civilization.
For this volume of Hip Hotels, Herbert Ypma

has ventured far beyond the rolling hills of Tuscany,
the postcard-perfect Amalfi Coast and the Grand Tour

destinations of Venice, Florence and Rome to introduce
discoveries in underexplored regions like Puglia,

Basilicata and Le Marche.
You might be inspired to visit the utterly refined Hotel

Raya on the Aeolian island of Panarea, from whose all-
white terraces you can watch the volcano of Stromboli
spurt fiery lava into the night skies. At the opposite end
of the country, in the ultra-stylish ski town of Cortina
d'Ampezzo, is Hotel de la Poste, run today by the same
family as when Hemingway used to drive up from Venice
in the early 19305. Or if you prefer the beach and night
life of the Adriatic coast, then fashion designer Alberta

Ferretti's Carducci 76 makes an appealing base.

Many hotels are a complete surprise: ancient cave-
dwellings in the eroded rocky landscape of Basilicata, or
the trulli of Puglia, centuries-old igloo-like constructions

with conical slate roofs. And whether cave, abbey, olive

mill, fishing hut or beachside palazzo, every one of these

unique hotels is true to its locale in architecture, design

and gastronomy.

With 516 illustrations, 355 in color