Your own frescoed room

The Hotel Morandi alla Crocetta in Florence, Italy

Morandi alla Crocetta

Checking into the Morandi is like stepping back in time to an elegant pensione of yesteryear. It's owned by an Irishwoman (though, in her nineties, she no longer runs the place), and the home-like rooms are installed in the wood-beamed—and, in a few spectacular cases, frescoed—chambers of a 1511 Dominican convent.

When I stayed there, my bed was surrounded by a painted choir of singing nuns. It was glorious (though I did live in mortal fear of bumping againt the wall and damaging the precious fresco). It's also one of the quietest hotels in all of Florence.

Via Laura 50, a block east of Piazza SS. Annunziata

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