Milan's Via della Spiga has a new-old address. The Carlton Milan, first opened in 1963 as the Baglioni Hotel Carlton, has reopened after a five-year, €60-million renovation under Rocco Forte Hotels, which bought the property in 2020 as its tenth Italian hotel. The timing was no accident: doors opened in November 2025, just ahead of the Winter Olympics.
The redesign, led by the group's design director Olga Polizzi with architects Philip Vergeylen and Paolo Moschino, respects the building's history rather than erasing it. Art Deco references, antiques and artworks collected on Polizzi's travels sit within warm neutral, ochre and cream palettes, and a bespoke scent from Italian perfumery Campomarzio70 runs through the public spaces.
Despite its grand setting, the hotel is intimate: just 71 rooms and suites. The Deluxe Suites are genuinely generous by city-hotel standards, with separate living areas, views over Via della Spiga, Illy espresso machines, Bose speakers and a minibar stocked for Negronis. Bathrooms come in marble with both tub and walk-in shower, stocked with Irene Forte skincare made with Sicilian ingredients like pistachio and prickly pear.
Food is a serious draw. Fulvio Pierangelini, the group's creative director of food, oversees two restaurants. Café Floretta, under a glass-domed ceiling like a winter garden, handles all-day dining and a standout breakfast (omelette carbonara is a signature). Spiga is the dressier option, a nod to 1970s Milan with leather panelling and emerald velvet, serving refined seasonal Italian cooking with artwork by Milanese artist Pierantonio Verga. The Carlton Bar leans into aperitivo culture with cocktails by Salvatore Calabrese — the menu references different decades of Milanese life — and bar snacks such as oysters with martini sorbet.
Downstairs, the Irene Forte Spa packs in three treatment rooms, a Technogym gym, sauna, steam room and high-tech options like LED and radiofrequency therapies, plus an express-treatment Forte Vita Bar for guests short on time. Out front, the Carlton Garden opens onto the street for alfresco eating and people-watching.
Location does much of the work here. Via della Spiga is one of Milan's premier shopping streets, and the Duomo, La Scala and the Brera district are all within a short walk. It's an easy base for a design-focused city break, a fashion-week trip, or a pre-Olympics stop. The reviewer stayed after a retreat near Lake Orta and found it a smooth re-entry into city life — polished without being stuffy, and with enough reasons (that bar, that spa, that breakfast) to linger beyond a night or two.
