This was published 13 years ago
Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, Milan review: Ground zero for style
High fashion ... the streets of Milan; the Bulgari Hotel restaurant.
When the world's design mavens descend on Milan, Angie Kelly, finds the happiest spot in town.
WE ARRIVE at the restaurant inside the Bulgari Hotel in Milan to discover all the sexiest, most gorgeous people in Italy have agreed to meet here for dinner tonight.
We are led to our table past a bar heaving with rich, thin, designer-shod creatures, talking and laughing loudly, basking in the sparkle of their natural five-star habitat.
We are seated by head waiter Manuel and if charm were an Olympic sport, we have the gold medal winner right here. That is until we meet the drinks waiter and the restaurant manager - both of whom visit us during the meal to pour more charm upon us.
We are here during one of the busiest weeks of the year; the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, or to non-Italian speakers, the Design and Furniture Fair - when function and form lovers from all over the globe are drawn to this northern Italian city in their thousands.
It's a fantastic time to be in Milan - even more gorgeously fashionable people than usual crowd the streets and outdoor restaurants.
In the shops along the nearby via Monte Napoleone - one of the world's most famous shopping meccas - waiters in white dinner jackets serve free glasses of champagne even to the likes of us, who browse open-mouthed in the salons of Chanel, Gucci, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana.
And for lucky design insiders, the party scene erupts in earnest with dozens of soirees scheduled around the fashionable via Tortona exhibition district for each of the five nights of the fair.
Back at the Bulgari restaurant, with each new diner's arrival, we sit entranced by the people-watching opportunities. Oozing style and casually sporting the kind of designer accessories we usually only see behind glass in the airport duty free, beautiful men and women with magazine-worthy hair settle in for a Friday night of food, flirting and being fabulous.
Just when the cool meter almost freezes, who should pop in the doorway but Australian actor Hugh Jackman, holding hands with his wife, Debora-Lee Furness. We say "hi" and they tell us they are also here for Design Week and we swap stories about the trip we all co-incidentally made that day an hour out of town to the Milan Fairgrounds, where most of the new furniture stands are located.
Back at our table we order dinner and resume staring. I offer to take a photo for a man standing near our table who is happy-snapping his friends, so he too can join in the picture. He thanks me profusely and immediately sends over two glasses of Taittinger champagne to show his appreciation.
It's a cold, drizzly night, which keeps the crowd inside and the manager keeps apologising that we are unable to spend time in the hotel's famous garden just on the other side of the restaurant's glass wall. This funky green space with sexy lighting is a magnet for the world's top models, photographers and fashionista types who flock to the hotel during Fashion Week each September.
But it wouldn't matter if there were a blizzard outside - being here is everything irresistible about Italy - the noise, the charm, the style and the great food. Though we dined on slickly served delights, the meal almost played second fiddle to just being there. You will have to save up for this one but it is without doubt one of Milan's hippest nights out.
The writer was in Milan as a guest of the Sydney Italian Chamber of Commerce.
Trip Notes
Getting there
Return economy airfares from Sydney to Milan via Dubai from February 1 to May 31 start from $1773. 1300 303 777, emirates.com.
Touring there
Italian travel specialist Mary Rossi offers tailor-made itineraries for design lovers heading to Milan for the Salone del Mobile next year between April 12 and 17. 1800 815 067, maryrossitravel.com.
Staying there
Bulgari Hotel Milan, via Privata Fratelli Gabba, 7/b 20121 Milan, Italy. (02) 805 8051, bulgarihotels.com. Deluxe rooms are priced from €980 ($1387) a night.
Eating there
Three courses at the Bulgari Hotel restaurant costs about $100 a head, without drinks.
Further information ciaomilano.it, cosmit.it.
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