Villa d'Este

Preposterously and hilariously grand, this is where Elizabeth Taylor came to hide out at the start of her affair with Richard Burton. As the great director Mike Nichols later recalled, so long as she wore a large-ish hat, nobody gave her a second glance. Built in 1568 as a summer residence for a wealthy cardinal with a passion for art, the hotel has an immense 17th-century shelled grotto, decorative gardens lapped by water so clear you can see pebbles fall to the distant bottom, and chefs in high white hats inspecting the engraved glass on bridal tables. In the morning, breakfast of Sicilian cannolis and iced espresso is taken as the sun starts its journey across the lake, settling on a flower-plumed promontory beyond. Boats cut through the water, leaving a fizzing trail behind. Everybody sits and watches – wondering where reality leaves off and dreaming begins.