Lampoon Hotels reviews independent hotels in Italy and around the world. Each property is visited and photographed on analog film by the editorial team, with a focus on architecture, materials, local food, craftsmanship and responsible hospitality.
Lampoon Hotels explores a contemporary idea of luxury based on quality, character and responsibility. The articles investigate the use of wood, steel, stone, natural textiles and locally sourced materials, as well as energy consumption, waste reduction, durability and the environmental impact of hospitality operations.
Food and beverage are approached through local produce, seasonal cuisine, short supply chains and collaborations with farmers, producers and artisans. The section gives particular attention to the people behind each property: hoteliers, architects, chefs, craftspeople and local communities.
Lampoon Hotels is not a conventional travel guide. It is an editorial archive of independent hospitality practices, examining how hotels can preserve local identities, support regional economies and propose new ways of traveling, staying and living.
Hotels
Verdura Resort, Sciacca: A Coastline Built from Seventy Deeds and a Duke’s Name
Sir Rocco Forte spent seven years assembling more than seventy plots of land to build Verdura Resort on Sicily’s southwest coast and this year completed a redesign by Paolo Moschino...
Villa Igiea: one hundred rooms where Sicilian industrial history became hospitality
Commissioned by Ignazio Florio Jr. in 1899 and designed by Ernesto Basile, Villa Igiea has survived requisition, institutional ownership, and decades of neglect to reopen under Rocco Forte in 2021
Pensione America’s garden restoration recovers the villa’s 1920s and 1930s botany
Banana trees, palms, lemons, bougainvillea, and the original loggia wisteria trace Pensione America's garden back to Forte dei Marmi's Roma Imperiale in the Twenties and Thirties heyday
Rosa Alpina and the Pizzinini family’s making of a territorial system
From a local inn in San Cassiano to an Aman destination, Rosa Alpina remains tied to the Pizzinini family, Ladin culture and the territorial system of Alta Badia
Why Villa Feltrinelli is in a category of its own
Twenty rooms, three hectares of botanical park, two Michelin stars since 2013: Grand Hotel a Villa Feltrinelli operates on a scale that standard hotel categories cannot contain
The Manner, or how Milan learned to live in New York
At 58 Thompson Street, Soho, Hannes Peer composes a design symphony for New York, drawing on Milanese masters and excavating, like an archaeologist, the layered beauty of the world
Restoring stone and silence: San Corrado di Noto and the rural Sicilian landscape
Nestled in citrus groves and olive trees, the resort maintains historic architecture and landscape, integrating energy-efficient design and local materials in its restoration
Inside The Mark and its Caviar Kaspia: Parisian rituals, Upper East Side rules
Caviar Kaspia brings a century-old discipline of serving cold sturgeon roe in fixed formats, structuring space, time, and social ritual within The Mark’s interior system
Patina Osaka and the castle line: architecture framed through light and materials
Overlooking Osaka Castle Park, at Patina Osaka Hotel stone-and-timber architecture and an OJAS analog listening room - the city’s craft heritage and contemporary cultural identity
Amanemu: natural hot springs and black cedar in Mie Prefecture
Amanemu by Kerry Hill Architects in Japan’s Ise-Shima National Park is built from local stone and cedar, featuring geothermal hot springs and a sustainable design rooted in tradition
Forestis and the architecture of reduction in the Dolomites
From untreated larch wood to biomass heating, every design choice at Forestis is shaped by the goal of minimizing impact — an interview with Teresa Unterthiner, general manager and owner...
Park Hyatt Kyoto: hillside terraces and the preserved skyline of Higashiyama
Architecture rooted in timber, stone and paper, gardens shaped with temple precision, a model of sustainable hotellerie within a UNESCO heritage site, and dining rituals framed by Yasaka Pagoda
Bulgari Hotel Tokyo integrates sustainability in a dialogue between Rome Japan
Designed by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, Bulgari Hotel Tokyo fuses Roman geometry with Japanese rhythm, embracing a plastic-free policy and local sourcing at Il Ristorante
Chronicles from Reschio: 1500 Hectares of Regenerated Forest
Fifty farmhouses, a castle, an oak forest in Umbria: the Reschio Estate introduced by Benedikt Bolza and Nencia Corsini, where today over two hundred people work
The Cloister and the Kitchen: Structuring Sustainability at San Domenico Palace, a Four Seasons Hotel
At the edge of the Ionian Sea, the Four Seasons' Taormina outpost combines ecclesiastical geometry, zero-waste kitchens, and a purpose-driven governance model
Villa Treville: architecture, materials and memory on the cliffs of Positano
Villa Treville, once Franco Zeffirelli’s home, preserves its spatial identity through local materials, craft manufacturing techniques, and a structure adapted to the Amalfi cliffside
Built to Endure: Capri’s Hidden Hotel and Its Organic Architecture
Neither a landmark nor a brand, Punta Tragara resists uniformity and green storytelling alike – favoring instead an architecture of adaptation, built to endure quietly in the folds of Capri
Cervo Mountain Resort and the weight of sustainability in a closed alpine system
Between Swiss mountain silence and technical infrastructure, Cervo Mountain Resort explores the limits of sustainability when it becomes architecture, routine, and material language
Krone Säumerei am Inn, Engadin: Craft, Raw Materials and Upcycling
A Sixteenth-century building in Engadin, restored with traditional techniques and raw materials, aims at setting a model for sustainable travel and contemporary environmental awareness
At 1,650 Metres, LeCrans Sets a High Bar for Low-Impact Hospitality
Renovated by Belgian designer Decarpentrie, LeCrans Hotel applies sustainable practices to energy use, material sourcing, and waste management to reduce environmental footprint
On Paris’s Cité Bergère, Les Suites Cinabre Champions Craft over Flash
By turning a private passage into a living archive of upcycled design, Les Suites Cinabre rewrites Parisian decadence into a narrative of longevity, traceability, and shared memory. Interview with founder...
Banyan Tree Kyoto, a hotel built on Higashiyama’s sacred edge
On Ryozen hill, fifty-two rooms sit above a hot spring rising at 40°C, wrapped around a bamboo Noh stage and stone walls
The Venice Venice Manifesto: Creating Value That Grows Over Time
Founders of Golden Goose Alessandro and Francesca Gallo renovated old palace Ca’ Da Mosto and opened a new hotel on the Grand Canal with an avant-garde spirit
Dar Darma Riad: Maria, maîtresse of Dar Darma, guides through the places of Marrakesh
All the walls are painted with tadelakt, an ancient construction technique consisting in a water-proof limestone-based concoction, Maîtresse Maria explains
La Mamounia, Marrakech since 1923: the ancient Arsat Garden
La Mamounia, Marrakech, review: The Arsat gardens and the N’zaha, a picnic ritual where the happy few reunited to eat Tanjia, drink tea and sing Marrakshi songs
La Sultana, Marrakech – The Terrace is the Largest Rooftop in the Medina
La Sultana, Marrakech: A Hidden Passage from the Bustling Streets into Another World of Quiet and Fragrance, Winding Past Courtyards and Pools to the City’s most impressive Rooftop
Borgo Santandrea: a display of vintage design and respect for the Amalfi Coast
Four years renovation works presenting today Gio Ponti ceramics and other 1950s vintage pieces
Soho Roc House, Mykonos – a village facing East, a wooden pier over the rocky seabed
The birth of Soho House, as per Nick Jones, was a necessary step away from the clubs that were in tune with the social scene in London at the time
180 hectares of biodynamic agriculture: La Raia, a case study
Agriculture as an entrepreneurial art: biodynamics, short supply chains, the Barolo wine market, renewable energy: a visit to La Raia and a conversation with Piero Rossi Cairo
Vigilius Mountain Resort: eco-design and Kintsugi philosophy in South Tyrol
Christina Biasi-von Berg explain the art of maintenance applied to Vigilius Mountain Resort – «Every detail is designed to last as long as possible» – according to the principle of...
Sahir Erozan on Maçakızı, Bodrum: «I created this place on my mother’s DNA»
In 1977 Ayla Emiroğlu opened a bed and breakfast in Bodrum. In the same year her son, Sahir Erozan, left Turkey for seventeen year. Macakizi, a combination of two experiences
Tuba Club, Marseille: save water, shower together – hôtellerie facing waste reduction
Tuba Club’s co-founders Greg Gassa and Fabrice Denizot: «80% of the raw materials are from Marseille and southern France» – roughness and commitment on the rocks of the French Riviera
Augustus Hotel & Resort, Forte dei Marmi: being vintage means researching and conservating
«I value work attitude and ethics more than seniority» an interview with Giacomo Maschietto – Augustus Hotel & Resort owner and CEO – on how to face the challenges of...
