For the devotees of authentic originality, we reference the outposts of intricate Italian design, meticulously detailed hotel spaces using the icons of Italy in their unmistakable chemistry, sometimes in the guise of rich Medici reds, a minimalist sanctuary and others that hug a blaze of magical terrazzo.

Featuring 21 hand-selected hotels over 148 pages and 189 colour photographs, Alchemists of Italy is the new handbook for those who love to travel in style and reside at hotels that go beyond the cookie-cutter design. The starting block of design in many of the hotels could be found in a Corinthian column, a convent's herbaria decked in cotta tiles, a classic Olivetti typewriter, a carving from Carrara marble, the tales of wealthy merchants or a table light from Atollo by Vico Magistretti.

From a 13th-century Venetian-Byzantine palace, aged monasteries transformed for the hip pilgrims of today, gorgeously chilled re-born hotels that celebrate 'Cinematic Italian' to a once abandoned hilltop Tuscan village, salvaged by a man who fell in love with the views over Val d'Orcia.

Meet the Alchemists of Italy. 

Softcover with 148 full-colour pages
Designed in UK
Printed in Austria