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Small-scale, luxury hotel converted from a 14th-century monastery. The hotel’s best antiques are in the public areas, leaving rooms simple but well-appointed. There’s a small pool in the garden.

High Renaissance-styled rooms in a 1527 building designed by Antonio Sangallo the Elder. The best, if slightly noisier, rooms open onto a magnificent loggia overlooking the square. Canopy beds add to the antique air.

In 1998, as part of the restoration work, this 16-room hotel was installed in a wing of Sorano’s 13th-century castle. Rooms come with wooden ceilings, fantastic countryside views and 19th-century furnishings. And with the high breezes, there is little need of air-conditioning. Closed January and February.

Built as a convent in 1511, the Morandi is owned by an Irishwoman. Some of the beams, antiques and artwork are reproductions, but the frescoes are genuine 16th-century paintings. There are just 10 rooms.

This was a residence in the 19th century of Tuscany’s Lorraine Grand Dukes. The rooms, a mix of old and modern decor, overlook the villa’s verdant park, which contains a pool and tennis court.

This much-altered former monastery has hosted the likes of Galileo and Petrarch. It has an outdoor pool and decent restaurant, all immersed in a park on the outskirts of Florence.

Though predominantly 15th century, bits of the palazzo date back to times when it hosted, variously, Dante and Inquisition trials. Large rooms and iron bedframes lend an antique air, and “superior” rooms come with 17th-century frescoes.

Pisa’s oldest hotel (opened 1839) has had Ruskin and Roosevelt as guests. A few rooms occupy the 10th-century tower base, while some of the Arno-side doubles can be linked to form family suites.

A family-run 17th-century hotel. Some rooms retain their frescoes, and those at the back are quiet and offer views over the hotel’s garden.

In 1997 this 17th-century palazzo was opened as an exclusive hotel, with baths sheathed in the marbles of this mining town between Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio.