Liked for its welcome, 'quietly efficient staff' and 'excellent value for money', this chalet-style hotel is in a 'very beautiful' skiing and summer resort in the South Tyrol nature reserve, at the foot of the Dolomites.

Once a bolt hole for wealthy Venetians escaping the summer heat (plus Robert Browning, Freya Stark, Igor Stravinsky et al.), this charming little medieval hill town in the Veneto is known as 'the town of a hundred horizons'.

The proud boast of this opulent hotel is that it has a hundred windows facing the lagoon.

Owned by the 'hands-on' Zanon De Marchi family, this 'wonderful' hotel (Relais & Chateaux) is in a village in the foothills of the Dolomites, amid the vineyards of Prosecco.

The Sersale family's summer home was turned into this spectacular hotel in 1951, and is still run by descendants of the original brothers.

On the north side of the Borghese Gardens, this luxury hotel is decorated in Art Deco style, with jewel tones, period details and floor-length curtains.

Above a small town (once a Roman settlement) east of Trento, this medieval castle stands in large wooded grounds: 'a marvellous setting'.

You need to be fit to stay at Villa Cimbrone. If you can”t afford to arrive by helicopter, you approach by a 15-minute uphill walk through the pedestrian zone on Ravello”s steep hillside (your luggage travels in a small truck).

What Casa Buonocore may lack in amentities such as a pool or direct beach access, it more than makes up for with beautiful country-chic interior design and intimacy.

With 'stunning views' over Florence and the surrounding hills, this family friendly hotel 'couldn't be faulted' by a visitor.

A former monastery dating from the 17th century, this luxury boutique hotel has been sympathetically restored by owner Bianca Sharma; features such as vaulted celings and wooden shutters on the windows remain, but rooms are fully-furnished with antiques hand-picked by Bianca herself.

Located in the centre of Capri but surrounded by beautiful landscaped gardens, nearly all of the rooms at this peaceful family-owned and run boutique hotel have sea views and terraces or balconies.

'One of the attractions of this gem,' write its nominators, 'is its location on a junction of canals just behind the Doge's Palace.'

'Well located', at the foot of Via Veneto, this historic building is within easy walking distance of the sights of ancient Rome, 'and the classy shopping streets'.

This hotel, set in an art deco villa on Amalfi drive, offers a genteel, old-fashioned charm, and has been in the same family since it opened as a hotel with six rooms in 1904.

In a remote setting on an 'amazing cliffside', this resort complex includes a hotel and a 'fishermen's village' (apartments), in a large botanical park on the coast between Naples and Rome.

The Cavaliere family's hotel is in the heart of the Italian Alps, and overlooks Mount Blanc. It's a reconstruction of a 20th-century alpine villa – every room is named after a year – and is old-fashioned in feel, with antique furniture, polished floors and period paintings

This chic little boutique hotel, which calls itself 'Rooms in Rome', is managed by Marco Fiduli. Just off the elegant via dei Condotti, and close to the lively Piazza di Spagna, it was opened by its Sicilian owners in 2008.

This sumptuous and elegant hotel is located on Via Veneto, the street that formed the backdrop to Fellini's classic movie “La Dolce Vita”, and close to the Piazza di Spagna, Villa Borghese and Via Condotti.

Much loved by Guide readers, Rodolfo Gattai's B&B is in 'one of Florence's loveliest squares', 'easily reached from all directions.'

Overlooking the Arno, between the Ponte Vecchio and the Uffizi, this 'very peaceful' B&B hotel has 'marvellous views of the duomo'.

'Excellently located', this 'beautifully kept' B&B hotel has been run for many years by its owners, the Bechi family.

In a quietish street near the Piazza del Popolo, this Art Deco hotel opened in 1925 and later increased its size by extending into an adjacent building.

Designed by renowned architect Matteo Thun, Hotel Pergola Residence is set on a hill 3 km from the ski and nature resort of Merano, but hiking trails depart staight from the hotel too.

Once the summertime day-trippers have left, Capri becomes a different place: it has 'charm, beauty, many fabulous sights'.

A stone-clad 19th-century nobleman's residence, modelled on a 14th century fortress, Villa Carlotta, perches high on a cliff above the Ionian Sea, with stunning panoramic views…

By the Uffizi Gallery, Elisabetta Matucci's B&B is a 15th-century building in a little pedestrianised street (reached under an ancient arch) off the Piazza della Signoria.

This small town (famous for its marble sculptures), with wooded hills behind and sea stretching out in front, is a 30-minute train ride north of Lucca.

High on a cliff, the pink 12th-century palace of the Sasso family, now a 'very fine hotel', has 'spellbinding views' from its terrace over the Amalfi coast.