Siena's Grand Hotel Continental is one of the city's finest luxury hotels. It's housed in the Palazzo Gori Pannilin, built in the 17th-century by Pope Alexander VII for his niece's marriage to the nobleman Giulio de' Gori. These aristocratic roots have not faded over time, and today the hotel retains all the grandeur and sumptuous decoration of its previous incarnation.

The facilities

Something of a gourmet hotspot. The restaurant, Sapordivino, is formal and elegant, renowned for its genial atmosphere and impeccable serbice. Chef Luca Ciaffarafà's menus put a creative spin on traditional Italian cooking, pasta is of course home-made and the finest olive-oil and truffles abound.

There's also a cahrming winter garden, the Enoteca ai Banchi, which acts primarily as a wine bar, though does cater for light lunches and snacks too. Even better, part of the old medieval tower houses the extensive wine cellar, filled with over 200 rare vintages, as well as other regional specialities.

The rooms

Each of the Grand Hotel Continental's bedrooms and suites is traditional and comfortable in style, in keeping with the grandiose surrounds of the hotel. Antique furnishings, artistic tomes and marble bathrooms feature in each. The higher classes of room boast private terraces, four posters and ornate period features.