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While walking along the buzzing thoroughfare of Corso Venezia in central Milan, you may find your eye caught by an imposing early 20th-century palazzo overlooking the Giardini Indro Montanelli, the oldest gardens in Milan that surround the city’s museum of natural history. It could be the liveried doorman and porter standing at its rusticated, arched entryway that piques your interest, or perhaps the sound of a hubbub drifting from the rooftop, where you can catch glimpses of the city’s great and good enjoying lunch under the shade of its elegant awnings.
If so, you’ll have stumbled upon Casa Cipriani Milano: the latest opening from the fast-growing hospitality group owned by the family whose history of hospitality extends from the legendary Hotel Cipriani in Venice (now owned by Belmond), all the way to the buzzy private member’s club Casa Cipriani in downtown New York, whose frequent (rumored) guests have included the likes of Rihanna and Bella Hadid. Opened in September 2022, Casa Cipriani Milano sees the group return to its roots, embodying the very best of classic Milanese hospitality and design, while reconciling it with the old-world feel of an English gentleman’s club.
Even if it does catch your attention from the street, you’ll need to be a member or hotel guest to actually enter. But once you are inside, the sleek, stylish vision of its founders is very much apparent: on the ground floor, you’ll first be led past the soaring ceilings of the Pickering Room, lavishly decorated with a glossy lacquered wooden bar (and emblazoned with the Casa Cipriani logo—a bartender holding a cocktail shaker aloft—in gold), geometric marble tiled flooring, and elegant banquettes crafted from dark green velvet and tan leather.
Then, it’s straight into the elevator—which features its own velvet-cushioned mini sofa, should you need to rest your legs while moving between floors—and straight up to one of the property’s 15 jewel-box, butler-serviced rooms and suites.
Each one has been meticulously crafted by the Florentine interior designer Michele Bonan, the emphasis here is on sophisticated Italian mid-century style: think walls lined with striped wallpaper and wooden wainscoting trimmed with Greek key patterns, crisp white linens custom-made by the historic local textile house Rivolta Carmignani, plush royal blue sofas with white buttons and trims, and black-and-white photographs harking back to the heyday of Italian cinema hung over mirrored surfaces. If you didn’t already feel like you were stepping back in time to a bygone age of high glamour hotel stays, the arrival of your personal butler to help you unpack will seal the deal.
With most of the rooms featuring views out across the gardens and across to the grand triumphal arch of Portaluppi, you’ll feel like you’re in an oasis in the heart of the city—and you’d be forgiven for not exactly wanting to leave. Should you want to add to those feelings of peace and tranquility, make a beeline for the sprawling subterranean spa, which is kitted out with just about every amenity you could think of: a Finnish cedarwood sauna, a saltwater pool, a steam bath clad in green onyx, a hammam clad in red marble, an ice waterfall, and even showers that have been carefully calibrated to help ease you into specific emotional states. (We’ll take rest and relaxation, thank you.)
The various spaces, all set across two levels, were designed by the local firm Studio Apostoli, and begin with a tunnel inspired by the Venetian lagoon that was specifically designed to foster the feeling of being underwater, aided by subtle lighting in various colors so the walls appear to glow from within. Then, there’s the whole world of treatments to discover—from massages to manicures—each of which takes place in dedicated cabins that are fully stocked with the cult clean beauty brand Bakel.
Finally, once you’re fully rejuvenated, you’ll want to head up to the top floor—and experience what is arguably the property’s crown jewel. That would be the vast Club Restaurant and Living Room on the top two floors of the building, with their sweeping views over the rooftops of the city’s Porta Venezia district. (It’s from this terrace that you might have heard those murmurings as you passed by the building at ground level earlier on.) Here, you’ll find Milan’s glitterati—and plenty of well-heeled jet-setters stopping by the city and staying at one of Casa Cipriani’s rooms—whiling away a balmy summer afternoon within its Art Deco-inspired walnut wood paneling, or dining into the late hours of a balmy summer evening under the Venetian glass chandelier, all overlooking what is inarguably one of the city’s most spectacular vistas.
This being a Cipriani outpost, the emphasis of its culinary offering is firmly on the very best of northern Italian cuisine: think Milanese classics, executed to perfection. While there myself, I sampled some of the very best vitello tonnato I’d ever eaten—decadent slices of butter-soft veal slathered with that unmistakable, rich sauce and decorated with zingy capers—as well as a plate of freshly-made rigatoni alla gricia, with just the right amount of bite. There’s a reason why, less than a year after opening, it’s already become a hotspot during both Milan Fashion Week and the annual design fair Salone del Mobile. So, see you on the rooftop for a bellini—the Ciprianis invented them, after all.
Booking details for Casa Cipriani Milano:
Amenities: Spa, restaurant, two bars, butler service, gym, private parking, soundproofed rooms, blackout curtains, air conditioning
Address: Via Palestro, 24, 20121 Milano MI, Italy
