USP Allows you to combine work, La Scala, art galleries or shopping — it’s five minutes from the main drag — with a bit of Namaste. It certainly solves the problem of partners who don’t share an equal passion for spa culture.

AMBIENCE It's a five-star hotel with a token spa bolted on and so upwardly mobile that even the beds don’t know their place. The stripped-wood floors, bespoke sliding doors, glass-fronted drawers and balcony in the room is like going to sleep in World of Leather and waking up in the Conran Shop.

EXPERIENCE Spa is small but perfectly conceived: a tiny lap pool (big enough for a lap-dog), a tinier 24-hour gym, steam room and quiet, luxurious treatment rooms. Treatments are tailor-made and remarkably effective. Be sure to indulge in the "Escape", a two and a half hour dosage of utter pampering that begins with a foot massage and ends, presumably, with the client comatose.

FOOD Italian room service provides a good cappuccino with soya, without hoots of laughter greeting your request.

IN CROWD A-list hairdressers, models, magazine editors and other fashionistas.

WALLET WATCH Pricey, but you get a lot of time. Specialties include age-defying facials (1 hour 25 minutes, £97), Chakra Balancing with hot stone therapy (1 hour 55 minutes, £142), "Jet Lag Eliminator" (55 minutes, £66) and the "Escape" which runs £198.

NEED TO KNOW Bulgari Hotels & Resorts Milano, Italy (+39 02 805 805 1; www.bulgarihotels.com)

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