Even hotels in Milan’s Tortona Design District like to break the rules. Magna Pars L’Hotel à Parfum, a five-star address on via Forcella, directly opposite Superstudio 13, is proof. Yes, it’s a hotel, but not only. It’s also an olfactory laboratory, a dispersed art gallery, a multifunctional hub, a conference centre, an events venue and a library. And these days it’s making headlines for another reason too: the creation of a bespoke “mountain scent”, designed specifically for the Milan Cortina Olympics.

A nose for fragrance, an eye for design. Two natural gifts and two hallmarks of the Martone family that, combined with entrepreneurial instinct and a true vocation for hospitality, led to the invention of Magna Pars L’Hotel à Parfum in 2013.

Calling it a hotel feels almost limiting. Born in perfect “Tortona style” from the conversion of the historic Marvin perfume factory (founded in the 1940s at via Forcella 6,  right across from the fashion-driven Superstudio 13, by Vincenzo Martone), it became the world’s first hotel à parfum. In other words: a hotel that celebrates the art of perfumery in every space, every detail. The evidence is everywhere. The lobby carries a scent. The communal areas are filled with furniture and objects that nod to the olfactory world, like glass vials, perfumer’s tools, plants and flowers. The entire interior concept, curated directly by the owning family, champions Made in Italy craftsmanship, spotlighting designers and artists driven by research, discovery, and creativity. The olfactory journey continues upstairs. Each of the 68 suites is inspired by a raw material used in perfumery, and each is paired with a signature fragrance created by international master perfumers longtime friends of the Martone family, and everything revolves around it: from the room’s name paired with its number (Suite 7 Vetiver, for example), to the notes that drift through the air, to the paintings and artworks commissioned from artists of the calibre of pop artist Omar Hassan, or emerging talents from the Brera Academy. And if a guest or even a curious passer-by is intrigued by a particular scent, they can explore its story, purchase it at the Perfume Laboratory LabSolue. The same applies to the contemporary artworks displayed throughout Magna Pars’ art gallery. For this reason, it isn’t a conventional hotel so much as a creative collector of spaces in constant dialogue with the world of fragrance. Even the renovation reflects that philosophy. The architects Luciano Maria Colombo, Paola Benelli and Roberto Murgia preserved the building’s industrial roots while pairing them with minimal design, sustainability and innovation. Exposed systems, extralarge windows, generous light-filled interiors, natural materials and a soft, restrained palette. Everything is perfectly calibrated: it relaxes, intoxicates with contemporary elegance, and draws in everyone: top models in town for shoots at the iconic studios opposite, managers arriving for meetings, curious Milanese eager to play tourist in their own city, or anyone simply craving an aperitivo on a terrace that feels anything but ordinary. Even the drink list refuses to be predictable. Bartender Riccardo Savà works with seasonal natural ingredients, pairing flavours and aromas and mixing in current events. The cocktail of the moment is 27 Abete Bianco: an alpine gin and tonic with balsamic notes and crisp botanical edges, echoing the fragrance diffused in the lobby as a tribute to the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics. One sip, and you’re transported to a mountain forest suspended between snow and sky.

Magna Pars L’Hotel à Parfum
Via Forcella 6, Milan
www.magnapars.it