T+L’s Hotel Review of La Roqqa in Porto Ercole, Italy

Picture Tuscany, and images of undulating, cypress-lined fields, and medieval hilltop towns probably spring to mind. The region’s interior is rightly renowned as one of Italy’s most picturesque places, but Tuscany’s 150-mile coastline is less well-known, especially to international visitors. That’s changing as coastal destinations elsewhere in Italy become further saturated, and new hotels draw stylish, in-the-know travelers to the area.

Foremost among these is La Roqqa, which was recently named among the best new hotels in the world, according to Travel + Leisure.. This 55-room hotel is located in Porto Ercole, the main town on Monte Argentario, an island connected to the Tuscan mainland by two long sandbars. Just over two hours’ drive from Rome, Monte Argentario has been a popular weekend destination for residents of the Italian capital for decades, hence the spotless yachts sparkling away in Porto Ercole’s marina.

Many of the first foreign tourists to visit the area were drawn to The Pelicanthe iconic Monte Argentario resort that opened in 1965 and has remained a favorite. That property was what first brought the owner of La Roqqa, Swedish entrepreneur Conni Jonsson, and his wife to Porto Ercole. “They were at Il Pelicano a few years ago and fell in love with the area,” explained Luca Dell’Aquila, La Roqqa’s guest experience manager.

During the pandemic, Dell’Aqua went on, the Jonssons bought a three-star hotel—formerly a popular dinner and wedding venue—that had come up for sale in Porto Ercole. After a comprehensive renovation by Milanese design studio Palomba Serafini Associates, it reopened as La Roqqa in 2024.

The hotel overlooks Porto Ercole’s marina and the terracotta-tiled buildings that surround it; behind these rises a natural amphitheatre of shrub-covered hills. Squint at the peak across the harbor and you can just make out the remains of the 16th-century Forte Fillipo. (The hotel takes its name from a second fort, La Rocca, which sits on a peak behind the hotel.) Taken as a whole, it’s about as delightful a scene as I can remember ever opening my hotel blinds to.

La Roqqa’s design was based around the Italian concept of The Dolce VitaDell’Aquila explained on a tour of the hotel: “simple but luxurious, with a modern layout.” Palomba Serafini combined classic Italian furnishings from the 60s and 70s with handmade pieces to create a sleek, refreshing look. A sweeping staircase curves up from the entranceway, while arches are used to create intimate, cosseting spaces in the public areas. When I stayed with my husband and two children this summer, the kids loved clambering over the outsized red lounge chair and ottoman in the lobby. I, meanwhile, was drawn to the wall of handmade ceramics at the hotel gallery, Craft Society.

The Jonssons are passionate about the region’s potential for tourism, and plans for a circuit of properties are well on their way. This will include a second hotel in Porto Ercole, housed in a former canning factory on the harbor; a resort in Porto Santo Stefano, the other major town on Monte Argentario; and a farmhouse conversion in Maiano, in inland Tuscany.

Read on for my review of La Roqqa:

The Rooms

Ludovica Serafini and Roberto Palomba, the designers behind the hotel interiors, conceived the guest rooms as calm spaces to return to after a day spent outdoors. That was certainly the way my family and I used our sea-view balcony rooms: as somewhere to come back to for a shower and some downtime before dinner, and for a fantastic nights’ sleep at the end of the evening.

Rooms are spread over four floors, and all of them have a small balcony with views of either the marina or the hills behind the hotel. Each floor has a different color palette inspired by the landscapes of Monte Argentario: soft sage green, rich ochre, or a vibrant ultramarine. Terrazzo floors and clean, contemporary furnishings, light fixtures, and accent mirrors keep the mood fresh and uncluttered.

The hotel also has six suites, including a three-bedroom, 1,000-square-foot rooftop penthouse that offers 360-degree views of the harbor and the surrounding hills. Several suites, such as the Mulanaccio corner suite, come with spacious private terraces, and some have outdoor hot tubs.

Food and Drink

La Roqqa’s Scirocco Rooftop Restaurant was the setting for most of our meals at the hotel, and these were a highlight of our stay. The view from Scirocco is spectacular, the breeze is delightful, and the supremely summery sound of cicadas emanates from the terraced garden behind the hotel.

The hotel’s executive chef, Francesco Ferretti, is focused on sourcing seasonal produce as locally as possible, whether from land or sea. On our first night at the hotel we had dinner at Scirocco as the sun set behind the harbor. I fought with my kids over the last pieces of crispy yet tender grilled octopus with barbecue sauce, smoked potato, and lemon-caper mayonnaise. My daughter ordered spaghetti with eight tomatoes, a dish developed with a local agriculture non-profit that is only on the menu when the best tomatoes are in season. She’d been expecting a typical pasta pomodoro, but reported that Ferretti’s version was intensely flavorful and cooked to perfection.

La Roqqa also has a rooftop bar and a second-floor bar and lounge space called Mezzanino. At Isolotto Beach Club there are two food options: Crudo Bar and The Grill, where we would order the fish and meat of the day, expertly cooked on the grill, with a selection of salads.

Activities and Experiences

“People who come to La Roqqa typically want to get outside and discover the area,” said Dell ‘Aquila, the guest experiences manager. True to his prediction, my family and I found the hotel to be an excellent base from which to set out for days on the beach, excursions into the nearby Duna Feniglia Nature Reserve, and evenings in Porto Ercole.

In terms of activities offered by the hotel, La Roqqa’s Isolotto Beach Club is the star attraction. Isolotto Beach is about a 10-minute walk from the hotel, but the route is steep, so in high summer, you may prefer to hop into La Roqqa’s complimentary guest shuttle. The beach club is free to hotel guests, and offers sun loungers and umbrellas either on the sand or in a leafy garden set back from the shore.

Isolotto is one of the area’s few sandy bays, and though there are a few rocks along the shoreline, the water is clear and shallow, with sand underfoot. The beach is open to the public, which makes for a fun mix of international visitors and local families.

The hotel also offers a wide range of off-site experiences, bookable through its capable concierge team—whom it refers to as storytellers. Guests can tour artisanal cheese farms and wine estates, take a cooking class or a boat tour of the unspoiled islands off the Tuscan coast. They can explore the region on foot, horseback, Vespa, or e-bike; take a sunrise hot-air balloon ride; or take a sunset yacht cruise.

La Roqqa has a small but well-equipped gym and sauna on the second floor. Tennis, golf, yoga, and pilates can be arranged on request. There is also a treatment room where a range of massage services are available.

Family-friendly Offerings

La Roqqa isn’t purpose-built for children—you won’t find a kids’ club or any chicken nuggets on the menu here. But as with most Italian hotels, we found the staff to be extremely warm and accommodating to our two kids, who are eight and twelve. One of the first things they noticed when we entered the hotel was the unique, site-specific installation hanging down through the stairwell, made by a Swiss artist named Raoul Maria de Pester. This was essentially a mobile, about 15-feet high, with small wooden hammers that, when a breeze blew, hit little metal drums, filling the lobby with a soothing, almost hypnotic sound. This object was the source of intense fascination for my son, who would want to sit on the floor and blow at it every time we passed through the lobby. Isolotto’s sandy beach and shallow water are also great for children—as are the little pots of Nutella delivered to every table at breakfast each morning.

Accessibility and Sustainability

La Roqqa’s owner, Conni Jonsson, is founder of Qarlbro, a Swedish green energy company, among other businesses. So it’s perhaps unsurprising that sustainability is at the forefront of the hotel’s design. We loved the fact that our rooms came with their own reusable canvas tote, a sleek aluminum water bottle and—brilliant touch—a small water fountain to fill it from. All the property’s furniture was made from certified sustainable materials, we learned, while e-vehicles are used for guest transfers, including to and from the beach.

Investment in the community of Monte Argentario is another big focus of the hotel. To that end, more than 75 percent of the staff was recruited from the immediate area—and we witnessed first-hand the team’s familiarity and enthusiasm for the place, whether we were asking for a restaurant recommendation or directions into town.

La Roqqa also partners with an Italian charity called Caritas, which distributes the unused food from its restaurants to low-income residents of Porto Ercole. The hotel also has a separate food-related collaboration with a social cooperative called L’Orto Giusto, which works with young people with disabilities. (My daughter’s spaghetti pomodoro, it turned out, was made with tomatoes from L’Orto Giusto’s farm, and part of the price of the dish was donated to the organization.) These and other initiatives meant La Roqqa was chosen as a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World consortium’s Considerate Collection, which honors innovators in sustainable hospitality.

La Roqqa is fully wheelchair accessible, with ramps and escalators servicing every part of the building.

Location

La Roqqa is a five-minute walk from Porto Ercole’s marina, with its restaurants, gelaterias, and boutiques. Before we arrived in town, I had lost one of the screws in my sunglasses, so one morning after breakfast I set out into the town to see if I could find an optician. A 10-minute walk brought me to exactly the place to get them fixed; on my way back, I picked up an extra bottle of sunscreen at the pharmacy, and, at the local greengrocer, a carton of cherries to take to the beach.

My family and I loved exploring the town in the evening, too, trying out the restaurants along the waterfront. These were almost entirely populated by Italians: though the new hotel has brought in an influx of well-heeled Americans and northern Europeans, the town doesn’t feel the least bit touristy. After two nights in Rome, it was a refreshing change of pace.

Book Now

Nightly rates at La Roqqa start from $440 per night.

Every T+L hotel review is written by an editor or reporter who has stayed at the property, and each hotel selected aligns with our core values.