The Auberge Resorts Collection has opened the luxurious Collegio alla Querce in Florence, its first property in Italy. The 16th Century buildings were once home to a school, a chapel and theatre. The architectural restoration of the estate was led by Spanish father-son design duo, Esteva i Esteva, who have preserved the original character of the structures and also by Florentine interior designers, ArchFlorence, who have kept the Renaissance features

Milan has raised its profile as a leader in the thermal spa sector with the opening of De Montel Terme di Milano in early April. The new property, Italy’s largest urban thermal and wellness complex, was first reported in Spa Business back in Q3 2024 and is being managed by Terme & Spa Italia, which runs Tuscany's Terme di Saturnia. De Montel Terme di Milano accommodates 700 guests and features

An excavation of the lost ancient city of Pompeii in Naples, Italy, has unearthed a well-preserved private thermal spa dating back almost 2,000 years. Pompeii, part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, was once a thriving Roman city before it was engulfed by volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted on 24 August AD 79. The site is now an archaeological park and has been gradually excavated since the 16th century.

Plans have been unveiled for La Maviglia, a new luxury resort and expansive medi-spa set to open in Italy's Puglia region, renowned for its Primitivo wine, in 2027. Spanning 202 hectares of lush olive orchard landscape and situated moments from picturesque beaches, La Maviglia resort is being brought to life following the sensitive transformation and expansion of an original 16th-century Masseria by acclaimed design firms Oppenheim Architecture and Enea Landscape

The iconic Orient Express luxury train is set to return to Italy following a hiatus of 46 years. The new Orient Express La Dolce Vita service will welcome passengers from 2023, with six trains embarking through itineraries across 14 regions – including three international journeys from Rome to Paris, Istanbul and Split (Croatia). Orient Express – which is owned by French hotel giant Accor Group – will work in partnership

A South Tyrolean wellness resort in Saltaus, Italy, has received a new two-floor wellness centre designed to provide a sanctuary of wellbeing that integrates smoothly into the natural landscape. Apfelhotel Torgglerhof hotel’s new 570sq m facility has been created to complement the resort’s existing spa with its apple-shaped bio-sauna – inspired by the local apple orchards. Architecture and interior design firm Network of Architecture (noa*) led the overhaul, with construction

Six Senses has announced plans to open a new Italian resort at a historic castle estate nestled into the Umbrian countryside, in Perugia, scheduled to open in 2023. Architecture firm Woods Bagot is behind the masterplan, while interiors are being planned by Tokyo-based Design Studio SPIN. The redevelopment is being driven by VIY Management (VIYM), a London-based investment firm focused on luxury hospitality and mixed-use real estate projects, and Alessio

Visual Display have created a clothing store in Milan, Italy, that transforms into a bar at night with a lighting feature that descends from the ceiling to become a display case and counter. The space, which opened in January, is described as a "concept store with a fluid and unexpected identity" that combines a mixology bar, café and a clothing store. During the day, the store sells men's and women's

Europe's first Legoland Water Park – and the first to open in a non-Legoland destination – will open at the Gardaland resort close to Lake Garda, Italy, on 28 May. The park, which was announced last year, will cover 15,000sq m (160,000sq ft) and will be constructed, in part, from millions of Lego bricks. Aimed at families with children, it will be home to several different themed lands, as well

Armin Sader, of hotel architecture firm Asaggio, is reimagining a historic hotel in the mountains of South Tyrol, Italy, with an emphasis on its solitary location in nature and a focus on wellness. The building in which Forestis is situated is located in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Dolomites and was conceived by its original owners to be a sanatorium for lung disease sufferers prior to the First World War, making

Alberto Apostoli is designing a new four-level spa for the Formentin Hotel that is inspired by the Aurora Borealis and the icebergs of the Northern seas. A historic thermal hotel built in 1911, the Formentin Hotel is located in the centre of Abano Terme, an ancient thermal area located between Verona and Venice. The 840sq m (9,042sq ft) spa will include a swimming pool on the ground floor, a thermal

A team comprised of Stefano Boeri Architetti, Inside Outside and Metrogramma Milano have won a design competition for the regeneration of an area of Genoa beneath Renzo Piano 's new Morandi Bridge. The original bridge collapsed in August last year, killing 43 people. The Parco del Ponte competition was launched in March to regenerate the local area and create new public services, including a park, sports facilities, a public square,

A new spa experience in Montegrotto Terme, Italy integrates spa treatments, ayurvedic medicine and fitness, along with traditional experiences from as far away as South America and Japan. Neró Spa, located a few kilometres from Padua and Venice, will have an official opening from the 24th to the 27th of October 2019, which will involve four days of meetings, readings and music dedicated to health and wellbeing. The new spa

Destination spa Lefay will open a luxury eco spa resort in the Italian Dolomites on 1 August. Located in the ski area of Madonna di Campiglio, Lefay Resort & Spa Dolomiti features 88 suites and 22 branded residences, as well as a 5,000sq m Lefay spa – one of the largest spas in the Alpine region. The resort was designed by architect Hugo Demetz, who used traditional materials such as

Architects who love Lego will be able to treat their families to a Lego holiday experience when a new Lego waterpark opens in Italy in 2020. Gardaland has announced plans to open Europe's first Lego-branded waterpark, designed by Merlin Magic Making, with the multi-million dollar development set to open its doors next year. Aimed at families with children aged two to twelve, the new addition to the Italian theme park

Family-owned COMO Hotels and Resorts will open its first hotel in continental Europe next month, the COMO Castello del Nero in Italy. The Tuscan hotel will be the fifteenth property in the Group’s global portfolio. The 740-acre historic estate is situated in the Chianti wine region of Italy, a 30-minute drive from Florence and Siena. At the heart of the estate is a 12th century castello, featuring 50 rooms and

Scandinavian architecture practice Snøhetta have revealed the first renderings of their proposed design for the Bolzano Museum Quarter in South Tyrol, Italy. The cultural attraction, which – if greenlit – will be picturesquely situated atop Virgolo mountain, will also serve as a satellite facility, housing artefacts from the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology and the Municipal Museum of Bolzano as well as exhibition spaces for Otzi the Iceman – a

Architecture firm Arquitectonica and interior designer Martin Brudnizki have designed the Mr. C Coconut Grove lifestyle hotel in South Florida. The 100-room retreat, which overlooks Biscayne Bay, rises six storeys and will feature several leisure facilities and terraces, including a fitness centre, garden, swimming pool, and spa with a private sauna, treatment room, and outdoor relaxation lounge. The nautical look of the resort – as shown by its azure and

A new hotel in South Tyrol, Italy is coloured to match its natural surroundings throughout with Asian-style patterned panelling, its architect has told CLADglobal. Network of Architecture (noa*) have stripped the former Moarhof hotel down to its supportive structures and redesigned it as Silena, a new 29-room hotel. The architects have designed Silena in line with their “naturalistic-Asian” concept – a marriage of the client’s (Silena proprietors the Mair family)

A redeveloped football stadium designed by Italian architectural practice Iotti+Pavarani in Pisa, Italy will blend into its Tuscan surroundings and sit low, so as not to disrupt the skyline of the city, according to the architects. Paolo Iotti, partner at the firm, told CLADglobal : “The architectural intention is to define a ‘new landscape’ establishing strong synergies with its context rather than creating a self-contained object of ‘design’; our main

Underscoring the important connection between design and wellness, Antonio Citterio, the architect behind the design of Technogym Village – the 2018 Global Wellness Summit venue – will be a keynote at this year’s conference in Cesena, Italy, set to take place 6-8 October. Citterio is co-founder of the multi-disciplinary design practice of Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, which works in architectural, interior and urban design. The firm’s projects include residential and

Studio Alberto Apostoli will design the spa of the new Grado Thermae in Italy, a thermal centre in an area with a long history of marine baths dating back to the early 19th century. The masterplan of the redevelopment is being overseen by architecture firm Archest, and it is hoped that the new thermal centre will boost tourism in the area. The first baths were built in Grado in 1932,

Destination spa Lefay has announced plans for a second location, Lefay Resort and Spa Dolomiti, in the ski region of Madonna di Campiglio, Italy. Set in the Italian Dolomite mountains, the resort is due to open in 2019, and will include 84 suites and a 5,000sq m (54,000sq ft) wellbeing area. Swimming pools, relaxation areas, saunas, a fitness zone and numerous treatment rooms will all be included in the spa,

Design initiative Young Architects Competitions (YAC) has joined forces with the Italian government to launch ‘Art Prison’, an ideas contest for the refurbishment of a fortress on a remote island in southern Sicily. The fortress of Santa Caterina stands over the peak of Favignana, an isle in the Mediterranean Sea. It was once a prison but has stood abandoned for more than a century. Over time, it has become a

The creative director of Gucci has opened a restaurant, museum and gift shop dedicated to the luxury fashion house – in a 14th-century Florentine palace. Alessandro Michele decided to open the attraction, called Gucci Garden, as a fun and accessible introduction to the brand and “a hypnotic territory that alters the state of consciousness and perception". The attraction spans three floors within the Palazzo della Mercanzia, which previously housed a

A new luxury spa has opened at the Portopiccolo Resort in Sistiana, Northern Italy, designed by Italian architect Alberto Apostoli. The facility is spread across three floors and covers a total floor area of 3,600sq ft (38,800sq ft). The ground floor houses the reception, hairstyling studio, a training pool and changing rooms, while on the first floor there is a relaxation area dominated by an indoor-outdoor pool, offering views of

Italian Serie A football team Atalanta has purchased its home stadium from the local authority and revealed its intention of redeveloping the antiquated venue. A contract between the football club and the Municipality of Bergamo has been agreed for the for the sum of €8.6m (£7.8m, US$10.1m), plus a further €2.3m (£2.1m, US$2.7m) or improvement works that were carried out in 2015. Further work will be done in the shape