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A chic night's sleep in Milan

By Valerie Waterhouse
Travel + Leisure

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(Travel + Leisure) -- Italy's fashion and design capital has three new boutique hotels -- and though each caters to a different budget, all of them more than meet the city's stringent style codes.

In the residential Cittą Studi neighborhood, fashion and furnishings designer Christiane Blanchet has spruced up a 1903 villa with her signature Indochine aesthetic. The rooms at the very affordable Vietnamonamour (7 Via A. Pestalozza; 39-02/7063-4614; www.vietnamonamour.com; doubles from $154) display artisan-crafted Vietnamese furniture, hand-stitched silk quilts, and the villa's original brick walls; there's also a jewel box of a restaurant serving contemporary Southeast Asian cuisine. (Milan destination guide)

Meanwhile, over in the buzzing Tortona area, Matteo Thun's 249-room NHow hotel (35 Via Tortona; 39-02/489-8861; www.nhow-hotels.com/; doubles from $304) -- housed in a former factory -- features a revolving showcase of contemporary art, and furniture from Edra, Kartell and other international all-star design companies, in the sleek public spaces. Comfort tempers high design in the rooms, all of which have sumptuously dressed beds and roomy bathrooms clad entirely in creamy travertine marble.

But in location, the 25-suite Town House Galleria (8 Via Pellico; 39-02/70156; www.townhouse.it; doubles from $899) trumps them both: an 1860s palazzo right above the flagship Prada store inside Milan's famed Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Look for original oak-parquet floors, subdued coffee-and-taupe color schemes, and a dedicated butler for every room who'll iron shirts, orchestrate a shopping spree -- even procure you a diamond necklace for an evening (at a discount) from Italian jeweler Damiani.

Planning a Caribbean getaway? Don't miss Travel + Leisure's new Ultimate Caribbean Hotel Guide.

Copyright 2006 American Express Publishing Corporation . All rights reserved.

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