Azure dreaming

“Here, the dream is revealed” (Qui, si svela il sogno) runs the motto in the Miramare logo. And for guests arriving in this memorable heartland of Ligurian hospitality midway between Rapallo and Portofino, in one of the most breathtaking stretches of the Italian Riviera, this is a promise kept.

The imposing Art Nouveau building gleams in the sun between the blue Tigullio Bay and the verdant century-old gardens guarding the native tree species that are a typical feature of the region’s historic estates. The white façade with its rows of turquoise teal shutters was lovingly restored in 1988, sensitively retaining the original Ligurian decorative technique handed down by local painters for generations.

At the “Mira”, as Andrea Fustinoni affectionately calls this family hotel, the noble tradition of the past melds harmoniously with the present, creating the hallmark equilibrium of this peerless place, where design and contemporary art set off décor and furnishings from a bygone era.