Brescia, Italy

L'Albereta

Price per night from$417.01

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR385.45), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Ivy-clad Italian manor

Setting

Winery wonderland

High on a vine-lined hilltop in Lombardy, L’Albereta is an ivy-masked villa with more classic Italian glamour than a Fellini film. With a superb spa, two wineries to its name and impeccable service, it’s a haven for gastronomes and massage fans alike. Let the award-winning Espace Chenot Spa cure your ills, the local Brut please your palate and the welcoming staff take care of everything else.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A bottle of Vigna Leone and fresh fruit on arrival. For stays of more than two nights, breakfast for two is included (ordinarily €28 a person a day)

Facilities

Photos L'Albereta facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Fifty-seven.

Check–Out

Noon. Check-in from 3pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £363.31 (€424), including tax at 10 per cent.

More details

Rates usually exclude breakfast (€28 a day).

Also

Curl up in the tiny Sala Scacchi, just off the lobby: it’s got a grand fireplace stacked with heraldic finery, high ceilings, the building’s original frescoes and an intimate, cosy atmosphere.

At the hotel

Spa with 14 treatment rooms, tennis courts, fitness classes, DVD library, free WiFi. In rooms: flatscreen TV, DVD player, CD player, minibar, blackout curtains, Etro toiletries.

Our favourite rooms

Hit a switch in the Cabriolet Suite and the roof opens up to let the Brescian sun warm your king-size bed below. The suite also has a balcony facing Lake Iseo.

Poolside

Lounge by the heated indoor pool in the spa area, which has counter-current swimming and hydromassage jets to soothe from top to toe.

Spa

The huge Espace Chenot spa has a dream team of masseurs, beauticians, dieticians and even osteopaths and doctors if you want something more full on than a body scrub. Soothe in the sauna, steam bath, Turkish bath or hydrotherapy pools with five different types of massage jet, then take herbal tea in the lounge or laze in the sculpture garden. The gym connects with nature too, with green views from the treadmills; there's also a water-gym with a counter-current pool and an outdoor training area.

Packing tips

A notepad, to keep track of your favourites from the wine list.

Also

Dogs are welcome for €30 a night; water bowls and pet rugs are available.

Pet‐friendly

Dogs are welcome for €30 a night; water bowls and pet rugs can be provided. See more pet-friendly hotels in Brescia.

Children

Welcome. Baby cots for children up to three are available for free; extra beds for children aged 3–12 are €30 a night, €66 a night for over-12s. A special kids menu is served in the VistaLago Bistrò.

Overview

High on a vine-lined hilltop in Lombardy, L’Albereta is an ivy-masked villa with more classic Italian glamour than a Fellini film… but also a family-friendly attitude that makes sure every child feels at home. With a superb spa, two wineries to its name and impeccable service, it’s a haven for discerning travellers. Let the welcoming and endlessly engaging kids club entertain your children, the award-winning Espace Chenot spac cure your ills and the local Brut please your palate.

Best for

Children of all ages.

Recommended rooms

Book a suite with a separate living area so you can close the door on your sleeping children and stay up as late as you like; some suites are even split across two floors.

Activities

Aside from playing in the kids club and exploring the grounds, there’s a fun games room, a swimming pool, a spectacular spa and tennis courts to keep you all entertained. Adults can take a dip in the heated, indoor pool in the spa.

The bright, colourful Maty’s Club – named after Matilde, the owners’ daughter – is open 9am–1pm and 2pm–6pm for children aged 15 or under (slots must be booked at least 48 hours in advance). Under-3s are welcome but must be accompanied by a parent. The club is crammed with puzzles, toys and craft supplies to keep children painting, drawing and sticking all day; games in the grounds make sure they get plenty of fresh Brescian air. There are also daily creative workshops organised by staff members; the eponymous Matilde’s favourite activities include face painting, treasure hunts and jewellery-making. A full day, including a morning and afternoon snack, costs €40; a morning or afternoon session, including a snack, is €25.

Swimming pool

The vast, heated indoor pool in the Espace Chenot spa has counter-current swimming and five hydromassage jets. Children are welcome, but there's no lifeguard, so parents need to keep watch.

Meals

In Italy, kids tend to stay up late, so you won’t get any funny looks taking your children to dinner in LeonFelice or VistaLago Bistrò. Highchairs are available, and in the bistro a special kids' menu (for under-12s) has been rustled up by the chef with sole fillet, veal escalope Milanese and ice-cream for dessert; LeonFelice's chefs will happily tailor meals to your little ones' tastes too. Breakfast is served from 7.30am, but if you need to feed hungry young ‘uns earlier than that, ask in advance.

Babysitting

English-speaking babysitters are available for €25 an hour, for a minimum of two hours; book at least 24 hours in advance.

No need to pack

• Baby cots • Baby bedlinen • Changing mat • Baby towels • Black-out curtains • Highchairs • Indoor/soft toys • Books • Crayons/paints and paper • U-rated DVDs • Board games • Puzzles • Bicycles

Also

Child-friendly snacks are available to buy. Baby food isn’t stocked, but the hotel will be happy to source it on request.

Food and Drink

Photos L'Albereta food and drink

Dress Code

L’Albereta’s comfortably glamorous: after a day being pampered in the spa, wear whatever you like while you eat.

Hotel restaurant

LeoneFelice's chef Fabio Abbattista finds most of his ingredients on the green hillside where L'Albereta sits; chickens and rabbits are bred close by, and herbs, fruits and vegetables grow in the kitchen garden. Dishes are traditional rustic Italian with a few modern touches: dine on tortelli is stuffed with burrata cheese and caviar, cod drizzled with almond mayonnaise and violet Sanremo prawns served with sweet grape, under the restaurant's moon-shaped lights. Lighter, regional dishes are served at VistaLago Bistrò, and guests enjoying treatments at the spa can dine on tempting – and dietician-approved fare – at the Wellness Restaurant. Pizza kiosk La Filiale (helmed by Franco Pepe) serves up crisp, tasty masterpieces alongside a list of wines from Franciacorta and beyond.

Hotel bar

Sip expertly mixed cocktails in your cosy armchair in the Greeneige Lounge, or take your glass of local wine out to one of the library’s three terraces. If it gets chilly, flip through the books and cosy up by the fireplace.

Last orders

Start your day with breakfast in the VistaLago Bistrò, open from 7.30am–1am. The Greeneige Lounge serves drinks from 11am–11pm. LeoneFelice serves dinner from 7.30pm to 10.30pm and La Filiale is open from 7pm to 9.30pm (both Tuesday–Saturday).

Room service

Room service is available 7.30am–10.30am for breakfast, 12.30pm–2pm for lunch and 7.30pm–10pm for dinner. Snack on cold cuts, cheeses and fruit, or tuck in to more substantial pasta, risotto, fish or meat dishes.

Location

Photos L'Albereta location
Address
L'Albereta
Via Vittorio Emanuele, n° 23
Erbusco
25030
Italy

L’Albereta – near Erbusco, an hour from Milan – is surrounded by green as far as the eye can see. The Franciacorta region, which stretches from Lake Iseo to Mount Orfano, is a wonderland of temperate weather, vine-blanketed hills and historic castles and

Planes

The most convenient route is to touch down at budget-airline hub Caravaggio Airport Bergamo Orio al Serio – often called Milan-Bergamo – which is a 30-minute drive from L’Albereta (www.sacbo.it). Direct flights to other European destinations are plentiful.

Trains

The hotel’s nearest station is Rovato, a 15-minute drive away; trains run to Brescia, Bergamo, Verona and the much larger Milano Centrale railway station, which is an hour away from L’Albereta. Milano Centrale has daily services throughout Italy and beyond, including Barcelona, Paris, Vienna, Munich, Zurich and Geneva (www.trenitalia.com).

Automobiles

Brescia’s rolling hills are ripe for exploring by car, and there’s free on-site parking at L’Albereta (you can rent a car at Milan-Bergamo airport). To get to the hotel from Milan, take the A4 towards Venice and, after about 80km, exit at Rovato. At the first roundabout, take the last exit; at the second roundabout, follow signs to Sarnico-Erbusco. At Erbusco, take the first right (Viale Vittoria) and go up the hill: L’Albereta is at the top of the hill on the left.

Other

There’s a helipad onsite.

Worth getting out of bed for

L’Albereta’s award-winning spa, Espace Vitalité Henri Chenot, offers more than the standard scrubs and serene soaks: get your diet assessed and your energy tested as you sip the detox tea of the day, or delve deeper into the dizzyingly long menu of medical and aesthetic treatments. Brescia’s a golfer’s paradise: there are nine top-class courses within a 100km. The nearest is the Pete Dye and Marco Croze–designed Franciacorta Golf Club, 6km from the hotel, which has an 18-hole championship course and a nine-hole executive course. Franciacorta’s renowned for its sparkling wines: discover the metodo classico way of winemaking at the nearby Bellavista or Contadi Castaldi wineries, both owned by the Moretti family behind L’Albereta. Take to the water at nearby Lake Iseo and hop on a ferry over to Monte Isola, a fairytale-fabulous island entirely without cars and almost entirely free of tourists – or stay on dry land explore the mediaeval monasteries and verdant vineyards that line the lakes shores.

Local restaurants

The Michelin-starred La Dispensa Pani e Vini in Adro, 2km from L’Albereta, is a hotbed of inventive Italian cuisine: chef Vittorio Fusari uses local produce in his dishes and the adjoining winery ensures discerning diners don’t go thirsty. It’s also great for cocktails. Le Due Colombe in Borgonato di Corte Franca, 6km from L’Albereta, is a Michelin-starred fine-dining haven, housed in a 14th-century watermill. Chef Stefano Cerveni (aided by his parents, Giuseppe and Clara) was taught to cook by his grandmother, Elvira, who ran a restaurant of the same name round the corner in the 1950s.

Reviews

Photos L'Albereta reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel is visited personally by members of our team prior to review and given the Smith seal of approval. As soon as our anonymous reviewers have returned from this Brescia boutique hotel and unpacked their bottles of Franciacorta sparkling wine, a full account of their luxury city break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside L’Albereta hotel in Brescia…

L’Albereta hotel in Franciacorta is the sort of place where you can easily forget you’re hotel guests and instead imagine you’re visiting a reclusive Italian movie star or visconte. Once you’ve been welcomed in the tucked-away lobby, you’ll find that the villa – actually the property of the wine-making Moretti family – is packed full unique objets d’art, fresh flowers and antique furniture, and rooms are decorated with authentically chintzy charm. It’s a classic environment with a spectacularly up-to-the-minute medi spa tucked away on the grounds: the menu boasts enough peels and pampering you’re almost guaranteed to look like an A-lister by the time you leave.

The smartly uniformed staff never miss a chance to make guests feel welcome, from the parmesan and olives that accompany your evening cocktail to particularly smiley housekeepers you might pass in the hall. Everyone goes out of their way to preserves L’Albereta’s air of serenity – the hotel’s only an hour from Milan, but the hill-country setting and relaxed-but-exclusive ambiance make it feel like another, much more magical, world.
 

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Price per night from $417.01