The Luxury Travel Bible never imagined that a hotel in the Val d'Orcia would be one of iPad's earliest fans. Set near one of our top Italian hilltowns - Pienza - we tend to associate the Val with the timeless beauty of crumbling stone, a rolling green view and a place where you could pack away the Tumi for a while to laze and gaze. Then again, we also can't resist thinking BIG and La Bandita does just that. More than a restored farmhouse villa, it has positioned itself like a hotel (if small) with the option of a full-time gourmet chef, making it onto the snappy Tatler best hotel list in 2008. Don't go looking for typically rustic interiors. La Bandita has its own sense of hip with local artisans transforming their skills into clean modern sleek. Did we mention this was the vision of a former New York music exec who decided with his wife to give rock stars the flick for renovating an Italian farmhouse - never mind that he'd barely changed a lightbulb beforehand. In the lounge area you will find an iPad connected to Internet and loaded with classics like 'La Dolce Vita' and 'Room with a View'.