Bulgari Hotel Milano

Via Privata Fratelli Gabba is a cul-de-sac off Via Brera that most Milanese have never walked down. At its end, behind a gate, stands Bulgari Hotel Milano, the house that in 2004 turned a Roman jeweller into a hotelier and gave Milan a luxury hotel with a garden larger than most of the city's parks.

History

Bulgari and Marriott International formed a joint venture in 2001 to build a small collection of hotels under the jeweller's name, managed by Marriott's luxury division. Milan came first. The group took an 18th-century palazzo and a 1950s wing on the edge of Brera, a few steps from the Pinacoteca and the Accademia, and opened the hotel in May 2004. It set the pattern for the collection: a city-centre site, a garden where possible, interiors by Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, and the jeweller's codes in black marble, bronze and the eight-pointed star. Bali followed in 2006, London in 2012, Beijing and Dubai in 2017, Shanghai in 2018, Paris in 2021 and Rome in 2023. Niko Romito, the chef with three Michelin stars at Reale in Abruzzo, took over the restaurants of the collection in 2017, starting in Milan.

Architecture and design

Citterio and Viel kept the palazzo's proportions and stripped the interiors to stone, oak and bronze, with black Zimbabwe marble in the bathrooms and the public rooms. The ground floor opens entirely onto the garden through glass walls. The garden itself, around 4,000 square metres, borders the Orto Botanico di Brera and holds mature trees and lawns laid out by the landscape architect Sophie Agata Ambroise; a glass pavilion is the bar in summer. It is the asset that makes the hotel: nothing else in the centre of the city has this much green behind a facade.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 58 rooms and suites, split between the palazzo and the newer wing, with the larger suites looking onto the garden. Furniture is by Citterio for B&B Italia and Maxalto, bathrooms are in black marble or teak, and the Bulgari Suite on the top floor has a terrace over the trees.

Dining

Il Ristorante Niko Romito serves the chef's reading of Italian classics, cooked with the restraint he practises at Reale: a roast chicken, a plate of pasta, an antipasto of raw fish, each reduced to a few components. Il Bar, in the pavilion opening onto the garden, is one of the addresses of Milan's evening, with an aperitivo that draws the fashion and design crowd during the city's fairs. La Terrazza, in the garden, serves lunch in summer.

Wellness

The spa occupies the lower floors with a pool lined in green and gold glass mosaic, lit from above, a hammam, a sauna, treatment rooms and a fitness room. It is open to members as well as guests, which keeps it busy at lunchtime.

Weddings and events

The garden is the wedding venue, with ceremonies on the lawn and dinners under the trees or in the restaurant; it is one of the few outdoor spaces in central Milan that can take a seated dinner of this kind. The hotel has a small number of meeting rooms and private dining rooms, and during the Salone del Mobile and fashion weeks it hosts brand presentations and dinners for the houses that fill the city.

Location

The hotel is in Brera, the district of galleries and the Pinacoteca, between Via Brera and the Montenapoleone shopping quarter. La Scala and the Duomo are about ten minutes on foot. Milano Cadorna station is close by, Milano Centrale about 10 minutes by taxi, Linate airport about 25 minutes and Malpensa about 50 minutes by car.