Room Service: Palazzo Alexander, Lucca, Italy

"Nessun Dorma" is piped softly along the corridors of the Palazzo Alexander. This is not because Luciano Pavarotti is in residence, but because Lucca, the least visited of Tuscany's four great cities (after Florence, Pisa and Siena), is the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini. The Palazzo Alexander, unquestionably Lucca's finest hotel, draws heavily on the great man's life and times, with period portraits of him and characters from works such as La Bohème and Tosca on the walls.

The hotel has been converted from an old girls' boarding school, running over four floors, while the furniture is based on the 18th-century Lucchese merchant style (think Georgian but a bit more ostentatious), with lots of gold leaf and blue-and-gold or orange-and-cream stripes. The breakfast room decor, all chandeliers, circular tables and cushioned chairs, seems to insist that you make breakfast – served with fine crystal and porcelain – a leisurely affair.

Lucca is entirely circled by a broad wall which the locals fondly, if a little unexpectedly, compare to another walled city, Berwick-upon-Tweed. The walls are a stone's throw from the hotel and are visible from the upper floors (from where you can spot occasional joggers in their immaculate, sweat-free Armani tracksuits).

Location, location, location

The hotel is situated in the western quarter of the town, at the end of a quiet cobbled street, barely wide enough for two Vespas to pass one another. The main square, where you will find the delightful white stone San Michele in Foro with its wafer-thin loggias, is five minutes' walk away. Via Santa Giustina, 48, Lucca (00 39 0583 583571 www.palazzo-alexander.it).

Time to international airport: Pisa airport is one hour by train (£2) or 30 minutes by taxi (£25).

Are you lying comfortably?

The rooms are heavily themed around the life and times of Puccini. I slept in the Madama Butterfly suite, one of six suites drawing on the great man's works. There were paintings depicting scenes from the opera and more Lucchese furniture, including a sofa, armchair and a marble vanity table. The ornate and spacious whirlpool bath demands a luxurious soak from where you can admire the clever masonry work involved in fitting the local stone and marble together. The over-sized room keys only add to the opulence of the building.

Freebies: fresh fruit in the bedroom, Tuscan soaps in the bathroom.

Keeping in touch: A beautiful wood-panelled study on the ground floor is home to a computer providing free internet access for guests.

The bottom line

A double room costs from €130 (£89) at the moment. Prices rise to €170 (£116.50) on 1 April.

I'm not paying that: a couple of hundred yards away stands the Piccolo Hotel Puccini across the road from the house where the great composer was born. Via di Poggio, 9 (00 39 0583 55421); double rooms from €80 (£55).