Italy Michelin Keys 2026: 45 Gained, 3 Lost
Italy gained 45 Michelin Keys in the 2026 selection and lost 3. Every hotel that lost a Key was verified against its own MICHELIN Guide page.
Italy gained 45 Michelin Keys in the 2026 selection and lost 3. The country ends the year at 224 Key hotels against 187, a net gain of 37.
Four hotels reached the top tier: Airelles Palladio, Venezia, Borgo Santandrea and Collegio alla Querce, Auberge Collection.
Chart: hotels in Italy whose MICHELIN Key standing changed between the 2025 and 2026 selections. Source: MICHELIN Guide 2026 Key selection, released 18 September 2026. Every loss shown was re-checked on that hotel's own MICHELIN Guide page.
The scoreboard
| Movement | Hotels |
|---|---|
| New Keys awarded | 39 |
| Upgraded a tier | 6 |
| Dropped a tier | 1 |
| Key removed | 2 |
| Key hotels, 2025 → 2026 | 187 → 224 (+37) |
What Italy gained
| Hotel | Where | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airelles Palladio, Venezia | Venice | no Key | Three Keys | New Key |
| The Carlton, a Rocco Forte Hotel | Milan | no Key | Two Keys | New Key |
| Vetera Matera | Matera | no Key | Two Keys | New Key |
| Villa Treville | Positano | no Key | Two Keys | New Key |
| Anantara Palazzo Naiadi Rome Hotel | Rome | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Ancora Cortina | Cortina d'Ampezzo | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Ansitz Heufler by Norbert Niederkofler | Rasen-Antholz | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Ansitz Steinbock | Villandro | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Baglio Oneto | Marsala | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Berghoferin Fine Hotel & Hideaway | Redagno | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Boutique Hotel Stresa | Stresa | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Bra Hotel | Bari | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Casa Brera, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Milan | Milan | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Castel Badia | San Lorenzo | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Castel Maurn | San Lorenzo | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Certosa di Maggiano | Siena | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Corinthia Rome | Rome | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Dimora delle Balze | Noto | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Grand Hotel Majestic già Baglioni | Bologna | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Grand Hotel Parker's | Naples | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Hotel Caesar Augustus | Capri | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Hotel Punta Tragara | Capri | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Interno Marche | Tolentino | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| La Minerva | Capri | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Leonardo Trulli Resort | Locorotondo | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Mediterraneo Sorrento | Sorrento | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Orient Express Venezia | Venice | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Palazzo Boyl 1840 | Cagliari | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Petra Segreta Resort & Spa | Costa Smeralda | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Relais Roncolo 1888 | Quattro Castella | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Resort Fontes Episcopi | Aragona | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Romazzino, A Belmond Hotel, Costa Smeralda | Costa Smeralda | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Sunny Valley Mountain Lodge | Santa Caterina Valfurva | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Tenuta di Murlo | Perugia | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| The Ashbee Hotel | Taormina | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| The James Suite Hotel Firenze 1564 | Florence | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| The Lake Como EDITION | Griante Cadenabbia | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Torre Fiore Hotel Masseria | Pisticci | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| VISTA Ostuni | Ostuni | no Key | One Key | New Key |
| Borgo Santandrea | Conca dei Marini | Two Keys | Three Keys | Upgraded |
| Collegio alla Querce, Auberge Collection | Florence | Two Keys | Three Keys | Upgraded |
| Splendido, A Belmond Hotel, Portofino | Portofino | Two Keys | Three Keys | Upgraded |
| Rocco Forte Masseria Torre Maizza | Savelletri di Fasano | One Key | Two Keys | Upgraded |
| Splendido Mare, A Belmond Hotel, Portofino | Portofino | One Key | Two Keys | Upgraded |
| Villa d'Este | Cernobbio | One Key | Two Keys | Upgraded |
What Italy lost
| Hotel | Where | 2025 | 2026 | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J.K. Place Roma | Rome | Two Keys | One Key | Dropped a tier |
| Aethos Monterosa | Champoluc | One Key | no Key | Key removed |
| Torre di Bellosguardo | Florence | One Key | no Key | Key removed |
Notable results
The single most significant result is Airelles Palladio, Venezia in Venice, which now holds Three Keys — a tier MICHELIN added only twelve hotels to, net, across the entire world this year. Promotions are the scarcer currency — worldwide only 86 already-listed hotels moved up a tier — and Borgo Santandrea, Collegio alla Querce, Auberge Collection and Splendido, A Belmond Hotel, Portofino plus 3 more managed it in Italy. The heaviest fall was J.K. Place Roma in Rome, from Two Keys to One Key.
What the gains looked like
The 45 hotels that gained ground break down as 4 at Three Keys, 6 at Two Keys, 35 at One Key. Four entered the list directly at Two Keys or better rather than climbing to it, led by Airelles Palladio, Venezia. The gains clustered in Capri (3), Venice (2) and Milan (2).
The shape of the country's Key list
| Tier | Hotels 2026 |
|---|---|
| Three Keys | 17 |
| Two Keys | 49 |
| One Key | 158 |
| All Key hotels | 224 |
That places Italy 2nd of the 123 countries and territories holding at least one Key hotel. Adjusted for population it works out at 3.80 Key hotels per million residents, against a Swiss rate of 10.00, an Italian rate of 3.80 and an American rate of 1.06. Three-Key hotels make up 7.6 percent of its list, against 5.47 percent worldwide.
Where the country's Key hotels are
| City or area | Key hotels 2026 |
|---|---|
| Rome | 21 |
| Florence | 14 |
| Venice | 13 |
| Milan | 11 |
| Capri | 7 |
| Sorrento | 4 |
How this compares with the rest of the world
Worldwide, MICHELIN's second Key selection named 2,832 hotels on 18 September 2026 against 2,457
a year earlier — growth of 15.3 percent. The tiers did not move together: One-Key hotels rose 16.0
percent and Two-Key hotels 14.9 percent, while Three-Key hotels rose only 8.4 percent, from 143 to
155, cutting the top tier's share of the list from 5.82 percent to 5.47 percent.
Across the full selection, 482 hotels gained a Key they did not hold in 2025 and 86 moved up a
tier. In the same announcement 88 lost their Key and 26 dropped a tier. The additions were
publicised; the 114 downward moves were not.
| Worldwide | Italy | |
|---|---|---|
| Hotels that gained or improved a Key | 568 | 45 |
| Hotels that lost a Key or dropped a tier | 114 | 3 |
| Key hotels, 2025 | 2,457 | 187 |
| Key hotels, 2026 | 2,832 | 224 |
Italy holds about 7.9 percent of the world's Key hotels.
How these numbers were checked
The 2026 and 2025 selections were read hotel by hotel from the MICHELIN Guide's own country
listings, where every property carries an explicit One-, Two- or Three-Key marking. Country totals
reconcile to the figures the Guide published on 18 September 2026.
Every downward move in the full worldwide selection — all 114 of them — was then checked a second
time against that hotel's own page on the Guide. That second pass is not optional: a hotel missing
from a country listing has not necessarily lost anything, because several properties that plainly
still hold Keys never appear in those listings at all. Only a hotel the Guide still lists, now
without a Key, has actually lost one.
Ten hotels turned out to be a third case: their Guide page has been taken down altogether. Those
have left the selection rather than been demoted, and they are marked as such in the table above
rather than counted as downgrades.
What a MICHELIN Key is
MICHELIN introduced the Key in 2024 as the hotel counterpart to its restaurant Star. Inspectors
assess architecture, interior design, service, character, consistency and value across a selection
of more than 9,000 hotels in over 100 countries, and award One, Two or Three Keys — a very special
stay, an exceptional one, an extraordinary one. Nightly rate is not a criterion, which is why a
four-room guesthouse and a 500-room resort can hold the same distinction.
The criteria are set out in the Guide's explainer on the Key; the full country-by-country
2026 list is published here.
Author
2026/09/19
