ITALY’S TOP HOTELS THIS MONTH’S REOPENINGS

It has been a tough few months for Italy’s hotels. Though they were never officially ordered to close, very few were able to continue to operate since the travel ban was put in place in March. They are slowly starting to get back on track as the country continues to de-escalate. Here are this month’s best reopenings.

IL PELLICANO, TUSCANY

This legendary hotel on the coast in Porto Ercole reopens 25 rooms (out of its 52) on June 26. Its restaurants will be combined into one and its yellow-striped sunbeds will be appropriately spaced out. Inland, Villa Lena, the hotel-meets-artfoundation, reopens on June 15, and Belmond Castello di

Casole, in a medieval castle, on July 2.

From €710 (£628); telegraph.co.uk/ tt-ilpellicano

GRAND HOTEL TREMEZZO, LAKE COMO

Lake Como’s grand dame will reopen on June 26. Its floating pool will reopen, as will its spa (with outdoor treatments) and there’s a new beach club. The new Mandarin Oriental Lake Como and the celebrated Villa d’Este reopen on June 18.

From €550; telegraph.co.uk/ tt-ghtremezzo

BELMOND HOTEL CIPRIANI, VENICE

The Cipriani, on Giudecca island, reopens its fabled doors once again on June 19. Another of the city’s pearls, the Aman Venice (where the Clooneys celebrated their nuptials) opens a day earlier.

From €835; telegraph.co.uk/ tt-cipriani

VERDURA, SICILY

June 26 will welcome back Sicily’s modernist Verdura, with its water sports, championship golf course, infinity pools and spa. Other hotels in the Rocco Forte stable, including the classic Hotel de Russie in Rome and the Masseria Torre Maiza in Puglia, reopen on June 19.

From €624; telegraph.co.uk/ tt-verdura

JK PLACE, CAPRI

Design-forward JK Place’s celebrated Capri outpost opens on June 18. Measures will include a contactless check-in and disposable menus and an app at the restaurant. Its Rome property returns July 16.

From £800; telegraph.co.uk/ tt-jkplacecapri

For more hotel openings, see our comprehensive calendar online: telegraph.co.uk/ tt-hotelopenings europe

The view of Matera at sunset, top; Santa Maria della Pietà, Abruzzo, above; wine from Cottonera, right examples almost everywhere, but two regions stand out: Umbria, especially the towns of Spoleto, Todi, Assisi and Bevagna and – a personal favourite – the glorious abbey of San Pietro in Valle; and Puglia, where a tour taking in Bari,

Castel del Monte, Trani, Barletti, Ruvo and Bitonto will reveal some of the loveliest architecture in the whole of Europe, never mind Italy.

20 HEAD SOUTH

True, visitors have to work harder in Calabria and Basilicata, the South’s key regions, than in the north of Italy – but in places like Matera, with its cave dwellings and ancient churches, or the coastal resorts of Maratea or Tropea, you have towns as compelling as any further north. And in the Parco Nazionale del Pollino, centred on the lonely uplands of Monte

Pollino (7,735ft), you will come across a way of rural life unchanged in centuries.

SEEING IS BELIEVING