Michelin Keys 2026 Emilia-Romagna, Marche and Abruzzo: 6 hotels, 3 new

Under the Grand Hotel Majestic in Bologna, the remains of an ancient Roman road are visible in the cellar. The Majestic is one of three new names among the MICHELIN Key hotels of Emilia-Romagna, the Marche and Abruzzo, where the 2026 selection counts six hotels. Casa Maria Luigia, outside Modena, keeps its Three Keys. The other five hold One Key: the Grand Hotel Majestic, Relais Roncolo 1888 at Quattro Castella and Interno Marche at Tolentino, all three new, and Villa Corallo at Sant’Omero and Sextantio at Santo Stefano di Sessanio, in Abruzzo, which keep the Key they held in 2025. The three regions had three Key hotels in 2025 and have six in 2026. Molise and San Marino have none. Together the six have 218 rooms, by our count. The tiers come from MICHELIN’s complete list of the Italian Keys, published in Italian on 18 September.

Six hotels from Modena to the Gran Sasso: the list, tier by tier

Tiers and towns are as MICHELIN prints them, and room counts are those on each hotel’s MICHELIN page.

The Majestic, with 106 rooms, is the largest and the only one in a city centre. Villa Corallo, with 11, is the smallest.

Casa Maria Luigia: Three Keys outside Modena

Casa Maria Luigia, at Stradello Bonaghino 56 in San Damaso, is one of Italy’s 17 Three-Key hotels and the only hotel on this list above One Key. “Casa Maria Luigia is intimate, but it’s far from sleepy”, MICHELIN writes. It has 25 rooms, a pool, a tennis court and “a fitness center that does double duty as an art gallery”. “You’re 15 minutes’ drive from Modena, but many guests are content to remain on site”, the inspectors note. Dining at Francescana at Maria Luigia is separate: “Bookings do not automatically include dining at FRANCESCANA at MARIA LUIGIA”, the page says. Guests must be 15 or older. The house takes no reservations for Sundays or Mondays. Its place in the national top tier is in our list of Italy’s 17 Three-Key hotels.

Bologna and Quattro Castella: a palazzo and a balsamic estate

The Grand Hotel Majestic stands at Via dell’Indipendenza 8, in an 18th-century palazzo in Bologna’s historic centre. “It’s the oldest in town, with a storied past on proud display”, MICHELIN writes. Below ground, “remains of an ancient Roman road are visible in the cellar”, while “an elegant red-carpeted staircase connects four levels lined in white marble” and the restaurant, under frescoed ceilings, draws on Emilia and Naples. There is a café. There are leafy patios, a sauna, a Turkish bath and a gym.

Relais Roncolo 1888, at Quattro Castella in the province of Reggio Emilia, is an organic wine estate “with vineyards, balsamic acetaia, and kitchen gardens all on the property”. MICHELIN calls it “Emilia-Romagna’s first wine and balsamic relais”. “The historic Villa Manodori dates to 1670”, and the 17 rooms are spread between the villa and the buildings of the borgo. “The greenhouse restaurant cooks from the estate’s own harvest”, the page adds. There is a pool, and the Motor Valley, the carmakers’ country around Modena and Maranello, is within reach.

Tolentino: Interno Marche, a design hotel

Interno Marche, at Viale Cesare Battisti 15 in Tolentino, in the province of Macerata, is the only Key hotel in the Marche. Each of its 30 rooms is dedicated to a different design icon, “so that the hotel functions more like a design tour than a conventional stay”, MICHELIN writes. “Frescoed ceilings in some rooms play against sharp contemporary furnishings”, the page adds. The restaurant, L’Opificio, cooks with the flavours of the Marche, and the spa has an indoor pool, a sauna and a Turkish bath.

Abruzzo: Villa Corallo and Sextantio

“Relais Villa Corallo is an elegant getaway in a relatively undiscovered section of central Italy”, MICHELIN writes of the estate at Via Metella Nuova 37, Sant’Omero, in the province of Teramo. Its 11 rooms are all different, with four-poster beds, designer wallpaper and marble bathrooms. “The estate’s organic farm sources most of the ingredients for the hotel’s refined Retrovilla Bistrot”, and “even the olive oil is pressed on site, using olives from the trees by the pool”. There is a spa with indoor and outdoor pools. The hotel opens from April through October, and for a few weeks in December.

Sextantio, at Santo Stefano di Sessanio in the province of L’Aquila, is an albergo diffuso. Its 29 rooms are spread through the houses of a 16th-century mountain village in the Gran Sasso national park. “The renovation is as sensitive as it gets”, MICHELIN writes, with “radiant underfloor heating, high speed internet, the whole 21st-century package”. “Bathrooms feature fittings by Philippe Starck”, and “the occasional massive egg-shaped bathtub is a very welcome innovation”. Its restaurant, Sextantio Cucina, was named Newcomer of the Year in Gambero Rosso’s Ristoranti d’Italia 2027, presented in Rome on 26 October, and it was among the nominees in our report on the TheFork Awards. The brand’s other Key hotel, Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita, is in Matera, as in our list for Basilicata.

The Luxury.it perspective

This is a list of houses worth a detour. Five of the six sit away from the big cities, among vineyards, olive groves and mountain villages, and three of them are new this year. Food is the thread. There is a Three-Key house near Modena with its own celebrated table, a balsamic estate at Quattro Castella and a village restaurant in Abruzzo that Gambero Rosso named its newcomer of the year in October. Bologna adds the city stay. Two more addresses for the table, Origini at Mondaino and Ponente at Urbino, joined the MICHELIN Guide in October, as in our report on the 25 new restaurants. The 2027 MICHELIN Guide for Italy is unveiled in Piacenza on 12 November.

Related guides

Italy’s 49 Two-Key hotels · The 10 most irreplaceable hotels in Italy · The Key hotels of Umbria · The 2027 MICHELIN ceremonies