The best breakfast in Italy is in Viareggio, and we can all try it

If you're passing by, stop by, perhaps for breakfast: it's a chance to discover it and get a meaningful taste of a stay at this monument to hospitality. Breakfast at the Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte is open to everyone, even non-hotel guests, and it's the perfect excuse to treat yourself to a memorable moment, to start the day in a different way, to spend even the mornings of the holiday season in a unique way, when taking time for yourself is even more enjoyable. The added bonus? Give it as a gift: a refined and surely unforgettable Christmas gift.

What is the best breakfast in Italy like?

As soon as you enter the hotel's stately rooms, you'll immediately understand why 50 Top Italy has chosen to honor it: starting with breakfast, you'll get a significant taste of the hotel's fine cuisine, led by chef Giuseppe Mancino, head of the team at his two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Il Piccolo Principe (the only one on the Tuscan coast). It's like walking into an amusement park, with so many beautiful and inviting things to try that you don't know where to start, much less where to look. In every corner of the room, there's a corner dedicated to a different specialty, spectacularly presented, and everything is always designed for those with allergies, intolerances, or special dietary needs. It's all there, and more: Ferris wheels filled with freshly made pastries, a corner dedicated to juicers with wooden crates of fresh, fragrant fruit and vegetables, another corner dedicated exclusively to dried fruit, and yet another with a selection of yogurt and milk. Meanwhile, on the grand buffet table, there are trays of fragrant leavened goods and a wide variety of freshly baked breads to accompany compotes, jams, sweet spreads, or even highly sophisticated savory condiments, from hand-cut patanegra to caviar, and even fresh oysters of the day.

That alone would be enough, but it would be a shame not to sample the hot breakfast dishes at the Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte. Our recommendation: don't miss the eggs: a great specialty. They come from Simone Ianniello's chicken coop, known locally as "the chicken whisperer" because on his farm—Gallus—he raises free-range chickens, leaving them free to roam and eat natural foods. He raises the finest breeds, including geese and ducks.

The extra idea (also) for a brunch

Yes, a truly royal breakfast, which can become a brunch for those who enjoy nibbling on something sweet and savory, lingering while enjoying the beauty of this unparalleled place, which has managed to become even more beautiful and elegant. To celebrate its centenary, which it just celebrated since it opened in 1922, the Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte has chosen to enhance its immense architectural and cultural heritage with a restyling that has remained faithful to its identity and made it more modern, even more comfortable, even more special.