Mandarin Oriental, Milan

Mandarin Oriental chose its Milanese home carefully: four interconnected eighteenth-century buildings on Via Andegari, a quiet street a couple of minutes from La Scala and the Brera district. The conversion threads the group's Asian sensibility through thoroughly Milanese materials—dark timber, brass, velvet in muted greys and golds—arranged around two internal courtyards that fill the public rooms with daylight.

Rooms and suites are tailored and restful, with dressing areas and stone bathrooms that betray the city's fashion-house instincts. The bar has become a destination in its own right, drawing a well-dressed local crowd for cocktails around the courtyard, which lends the hotel more evening energy than most of its Milanese peers. The spa is among the city's largest, with an indoor pool and a thermal suite spread across the basement level.

The gastronomic draw is Seta, where chef Antonio Guida's inventive Italian cooking has held two Michelin stars for years and remains one of Milan's most sought-after tables. Between Seta, the bar and a position equidistant from the Duomo, Brera's galleries and the Quadrilatero boutiques, this is arguably the most rounded of Milan's contemporary five-stars.