It feels local - a relevant reflection of the city right now. The Vibe: Grand Hotel Minerva is a family operation (three generations and counting) and one of the oldest hotels in the city. The spaces are a balance between old and new and, at the best of times, feel daring. (Scarpa took his trademark style of past-meets-present to the grave: He's famously buried standing up and wrapped in linen, in the tradition of medieval knights.) For the recent renovation, local architect Piera Tempesti Benelli paid homage to Scarpa by showcasing existing landmarked structures and objects using light, space, and furnishings, and mixing base materials with precious ones. Scarpa's approach in the 1950s was to marry historical design details from the original building - frescoes, hand-hewn beams, columns - with Italian Modernist architecture - geometric black-and-white marble floors, custom-designed furniture. Operating as an inn as early as the 19th century, the hotel morphed into the Minerva at the hands of primo Italian architect Carlo Scarpa. Fresh off a multimillion-dollar renovation completed in 2018, the building, which once served as a home for the monks of Santa Maria Novella, is celebrating its 150th birthday.

This is what you come to realize when you travel throughout Italy, and certainly when you book into the Grand Hotel Minerva in the famous Piazza Santa Maria Novella. Even in the darkest of times, in the hardest-to-reach places, in the most strict and solemn of monasteries: The views are amazing. The Church always has the best real estate. All photos courtesy of Grand Hotel Minerva.

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