Pizzo | Piccolo Grand Hotel

Crisp and cool in the turquoise-on-white of Greek island postcards, the Piccolo Grand Hotel basks on another Mediterranean shore, on Calabria‘s Tyrrhenian coast. More precisely, at Pizzo, an engaging little port built on a rocky outcrop with steep narrow streets, the usual Aragonese castle and a reputation for superb ice cream confections. More a grand little hotel than a little grand one, it has just 12 rooms or suites all as neat as a new pin, decked out in a playful mix of retro and contemporary design which manages to be both 4-star luxurious and lighthearted. The views around the bay and across to the Aeolian islands are simply awe-inspiring.

The Piccolo Grand Hotel ticks a lot of the eco-boxes too, using solar power and/or energy-efficiency technologies for water heating and flushing, space heating and cooling, lighting and cooking. It has a curious little electric vehicle to ferry guests to and from the beach, the station or wherever they managed to park the car, and, for the more adventurous, a bike-hire service. Pizzo is only 20 km from the airport at Lamezia Terme. And the local strand at Marina di Pizzo is just one of the gorgeous beaches in the area around more fashionable Tropea.