Grand Hotel et de Milan, Milan, Italy
Grand Hotel et de Milan 5 Stars
"A centrally-located luxury hotel, great for shopping and opera, this Milan classic is full of understated charm."
Hotel Overview
Review of Grand Hotel et de Milan, by The TI Review Team
The Grand Hotel et de Milan has been one of Milan's most prestigious luxury hotels ever since it opened in 1863. The opera composer Giuseppe Verdi lived here for 27 years because of the hotel's proximity to La Scala opera house. Décor at the Grand Hotel et de Milano is traditional yet classy, with elegant period furniture and giant bouquets in the lobby and piano music tinkling in the Falstaff bar.
The facilities
This luxury hotel has a glass-walled fitness centre in the interior courtyard and two resplendent ballrooms which can be rented for events.
One of Grand Hotel et de Milano's highlights is its renowned Don Carlos restaurant, headed by famous chef Alfredo Russo. A popular spot for pre- or post- opera dining, the intimate restaurant seats just 35 and the walls are crammed with operatic paintings donated to the restaurant by the Museum La Scala. Patrons can descend to the wine cellar with the restaurant's sommelier to personally choose wine to accompany their dinner.
If you fancy a meal in a less formal setting, the hotel's second restaurant La Caruso serves light Mediterranean fare. The Falstaff Bar provides the cocktails.
The rooms
The Grand Hotel et de Milano's jazz-era mood extends to its 95 rooms rooms, which are decorated with turn-of-the-century furniture and historical prints. For the ultimate in luxury, request the 18th-century-style Suite Guiseppe Verdi. The luxury hotel makes extensive use of natural light, with light wells in all the bathrooms. Rooms all offer Wi-Fi and satellite TV
Facilities
Who stays here?
Giuseppe Verdi settled in Suite 105 in 1872 to write parts of Othello, and lived there for 20 years. Italian public figures as diverse as Sofia Loren and Mussolini have also stayed at this grande dame.Come for...
- Three different room styles to suit different tastes - Eighteenth Century, Deco or Liberty
- Illustrious former residents - Verdi, Caruso, Hemingway and Sofia Loren
- Lovely jazz-era mood
- Sommeliers of Godlike omniscience
Not Suitable for...
- Shallow pockets
Children
Baby-sitting is available on request and extra beds can be provided. Children receive a lovely little package of goodies for their entertainment on arrival.Eating in
Both renowned restaurants, Caruso and Don Carlos, serve classic Italian dishes with a contemporary twist. The wine cellar at Don Carlos is particularly impressive.The Press Say
"This is a magnificent old hotel, with old-world elegance that never jumps across the tracks into gaudiness...the Don Carlos restaurant, filled with opera music and memorabilia, offers wonderful cuisine that's more creative than the surrounds would suggest." Lonely Planet 08Reviews
Review of Grand Hotel et de Milan, by Jamie Dunford Wood
The Grand Hotel et de Milan is a classic 19thC Italian grand dame - dusty, dowdy, slow, polite - with a posh granny-flat feel. Many of the staff look like they have been here for eons, and will probably die on the job. Downstairs there is a heavy Edwardian feel - patterned silk and velvet sofas, piped opera music, dusty potted palms, heavy marble fireplaces. Upstairs the tone is lighter, with cream and cool marble corridors. Many of the guestrooms have old parquet floors, with French empire furnishings, scuffed dusty pink walls, hunting prints and 18thC engravings on the walls. The tubs are old, with no separate showers. The hotel is a short walk from La Scala, so for operatic types who don't want Tosca to come to an end, this hotel provides the perfect ambience.