Four Seasons Hotel Milano

Milan's most surprising luxury hotel hides behind a sober facade on Via Gesù, in the very centre of the Quadrilatero della Moda. Step through and the city vanishes: the building began life as a fifteenth-century convent, and its colonnaded cloister survives as a garden courtyard around which the whole hotel is arranged. Original frescoes and vaulted ceilings surface throughout the ground floor, giving the property a sense of age that Milan's newer flagships cannot manufacture.

Rooms are among the largest in the city, drawn in soft neutrals with generous marble bathrooms; the best of them look onto the cloister garden, and the former chapel now houses one of the signature suites. The clientele is a mix of fashion-week regulars, financiers and couples using Milan as a gateway to the lakes, and the service style is the brand's familiar blend of warmth and precision.

The restaurant and bar spill into the cloister in warm weather, serving polished Italian cooking and one of the neighbourhood's more civilised aperitivo hours. A compact spa and pool sit below ground. With Via Montenapoleone effectively on the doorstep and La Scala a ten-minute walk, the location could hardly be improved for shopping and culture alike.