W Hotels Finds a New Rhythm in Italy
Florence
W Florence occupies the former Grand Hotel Majestic, a rationalist-modernist building designed by Florentine architect Lando Bartoli in 1968. It is an unexpected place to begin in a city where the Renaissance tends to dominate nearly every conversation about architecture. I liked that the hotel does not try to out-Florence Florence. Instead, it turns towards a more recent chapter of Italian design.
Genius Loci Architettura restored the building, while AvroKO created interiors influenced by the 1960s and ’70s. Curved forms, polished surfaces, warm wood and graphic details appear throughout, but the references never become a full period exercise. The hotel feels contemporary, with just enough of the past left visible beneath it.
What stayed with me most was the movement between the city outside and the calmer spaces within. W Florence sits near Santa Maria Novella and only a short walk from the Duomo, yet its central courtyard creates a surprising pause from the streets around it. The hotel has 119 rooms, alongside Akira Back’s restaurant, the W Lounge and Zefiro, its rooftop overlooking the city. Its character comes less from one dramatic feature than from the way materials, shapes and spaces have been put together.
Rome
W Rome, the brand’s first Italian property, occupies two connected 19th-century palazzi close to the Spanish Steps. Where Florence feels controlled, Rome works through collision. Meyer Davis placed saturated colour, patterned surfaces and contemporary furniture against the formality of the original architecture, allowing the two periods to sit beside one another without trying to resolve the difference.
That approach feels right for Rome. It is a city where architecture, daily life and different centuries seem to overlap without much concern for consistency. The hotel reflects some of that looseness. Historic details remain visible, but the rooms surrounding them feel lighter and less formal than the palazzi might suggest.
I liked how much the atmosphere changed throughout the day. The courtyards felt quiet and almost private in the morning, while the rooftop opened the building towards the city later on. At Giano, Michelin-starred chef Ciccio Sultano brings Sicilian ingredients and methods into a Roman setting, without turning the experience into something overly ceremonial. The same ease carries through the hotel. It feels polished, but the atmosphere remains easy.
Sardinia
At W Sardinia, Poltu Quatu, the landscape arrives before the hotel does. Poltu Quatu means “hidden port,” and the village is built around a marina inside a natural fjord between Porto Cervo and Baia Sardinia. Whitewashed buildings descend towards the water, while granite cliffs rise behind them. From certain angles, the property seems to fold into the coastline.
Designed by Meyer Davis, with architecture by DE.TALES, the hotel includes 157 rooms and suites. Its interiors draw from Sardinian stone, craft and woven textures, but the references remain quiet. Natural tones and tactile surfaces connect the rooms to the island without reducing it to a predictable image of Mediterranean life.
The hotel is strongest when it allows the setting to do most of the work. TANIT faces the marina, while the W Lounge and WET Deck open towards the water and surrounding rock. The days settle into their own rhythm: slow mornings, long lunches, time at sea and evenings near the harbour. There are local food experiences, collaborations with artisans and boat trips around the coast, but the property does not seem anxious to fill every hour. Sardinia already provides enough.
W is also developing 29 private residences beside the hotel, planned to open in 2027, with terraces, gardens and plunge pools alongside access to the property’s services. The project suggests that the brand sees Poltu Quatu as more than a seasonal stop, although the hotel is at its most convincing when it simply responds to what is already there.
A common W language runs through the three hotels, but it never becomes a uniform. Florence looks towards postwar Italian modernism. Rome places contemporary expression inside the weight of two historic palazzi. Sardinia steps back and lets water, stone and geography shape the experience.
This distinction matters. International hotels often promise a connection to a place while offering much the same room, service and atmosphere wherever they open. These properties work best when they resist that sameness. Even the W Insider—the brand’s more intuitive version of a traditional concierge—is designed around personal knowledge of the destination rather than formality for its own sake.
The three hotels are connected through the Italian Tour Package, combining suite stays, dining and local experiences. Florence includes a collaboration with designer Domenico Orefice and a leather cocktail experience. Rome moves through rooftop aperitivo and the city’s food culture, while Sardinia centres on coastal cooking, the marina and the surrounding landscape.
W Hotels is not abandoning the confidence and energy that made it recognisable. It is learning when to push forward and when to leave space. Across Italy, that makes the brand feel not quieter, but more certain of itself.
