Hotel Settefiori, Milan

We turned off the foot-traffic of Via Brera onto cobbled Via Fiori Chiari and found Settefiori behind an unmarked green gate. The reward for ringing the bell was a courtyard so thick with jasmine that we smelled it before we saw it, a few iron tables, and the low chatter of guests over Camparis. Milan does minimalism with a certain chill; this place pushes back, all sun-warmed ochre plaster and terrazzo poured in soft greens and pinks. The receptionist, who turned out to be one of the owners, walked us in without a clipboard in sight and offered an espresso made on a machine that looked older than the building's last renovation.

The room

Our room, one of twenty, faced the courtyard and so caught the jasmine on the breeze whenever we cracked the window. The terrazzo continued underfoot, cool and faintly speckled, against walls the colour of clay. The bed was low and Italian-firm, flanked by ceramic lamps thrown by a Lombard potter the owners name-check happily. A vintage Castiglioni floor lamp arced over a reading chair, and the wardrobe was solid walnut rather than the usual laminate. The bathroom leaned into colour, with rosso Verona tiling and a generous walk-in shower. It is a room that rewards lingering, which we did, longer than our itinerary strictly allowed.

Settefiori proves Milanese design need not be cold to be serious; here it smells of jasmine and feels like a home.The Suite Edit

Service & food

The team is young, design-fluent and genuinely fond of their neighbourhood; ask where to eat and you'll get an opinion, not a brochure. There is no full restaurant, but the courtyard does double duty: breakfast of brioche, sliced pears and proper cappuccino in the morning, and a respectable aperitivo of Franciacorta and stuzzichini as the light goes. The kitchen's reach ends there, and on a wet February evening we'd have welcomed the option of dinner in-house. Instead they sent us, correctly, to a trattoria around the corner where the risotto alla milanese was the best of the trip.

The verdict

Settefiori suits travellers who come to Milan for Brera's galleries, design shops and evening passeggiata, and who want a hotel with personality rather than corporate polish: couples, creatives, design pilgrims. The caveat is one of scale and ambition. There is no spa, no gym and no dinner service, and the courtyard, lovely as it is, can carry voices up to the lower rooms on warm nights. Light sleepers should book higher. We forgave it everything for the jasmine and the terrazzo, and would return in a heartbeat come spring.