The Little Italian Hotel

Ginny Splinter is a radio advice show host on Talk Heart FM in Greenham, England, where she helps thousands of listeners on her daily show, Just Ask Ginny. She has booked a surprise three-week trip to Italy to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary with her husband, Adrian, a sales director at a luxury car dealership, hoping the vacation will reignite their marriage.

When her young producer, Tam, pushes Ginny to take live calls, a caller using the pseudonym "Miss Peach" asks how well Ginny knows her husband. The call rattles Ginny. That evening, she presents the trip to Adrian, who refuses to go, citing work pressures. Their argument escalates, and Adrian announces he wants a divorce. He wheels a pre-packed suitcase out, leaving Ginny stunned.

Adrian refuses Ginny's calls. When he asks her to cancel the holiday, she logs into his laptop and discovers his profile on a dating site called ChainReaxions, where he has shaved years off his age and describes himself as looking for "interesting women." The travel company cannot refund her money but offers to change guest names and switch to a cheaper hotel, Hotel Splendido, for up to five guests. The following Monday, Ginny confesses on air that her marriage is crumbling and impulsively invites four heartbroken strangers to join her in Italy. Tam selects Heather Hall, a 43-year-old schoolteacher caring for her ill mother; Eric Sanderson, a 28-year-old carpenter dealing with a bereavement; Edna Edgerton-Woods, an 80-year-old former seamstress grieving her family; and Curtis Dunne, a 38-year-old property developer.

The narrative shifts to Nico, the owner of Hotel Splendido in the village of Vigornuovo, near Bologna. He inherited the modest hotel from his mother and promised her never to sell it. His wife, Maria, left three years earlier for a hotel management job in Naples, intending to earn money to renovate Splendido, but gradually stopped returning. His restless 17-year-old daughter, Loretta, dreams of life beyond Vigornuovo. Nico's best friend, Gianfranco, owns the lavish Grand Hotel Castello Bella Vista on the hill above the village.

Ginny arrives in Italy with Curtis after her luggage is lost. The other guests join them at Splendido, where contrasts quickly emerge: Eric is withdrawn and carries a mysterious yellow tin; Heather is relentlessly cheerful; Edna is sharp-tongued; Curtis is evasive. Ginny proposes they form "Team Heartache," each person suggesting an activity to address their heartbreak, scored on evaluation forms.

At the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Ginny is moved by Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. Nico shows her his favorite painting, a two-panel work by Piero della Francesca in which the subjects hide images on their reverse sides. Ginny draws a parallel to how people conceal their true selves. A security guard's inspection of Eric's tin reveals a pink dog collar, hinting that his bereavement involves a pet.

The group's backstories emerge gradually. Eric lost his beloved dog, Bess, after his furniture business collapsed during the pandemic, and the compounding losses left him deeply depressed. Edna spent decades caring for her daughter, Daisy, who was born with developmental differences and died at 50, followed shortly by Edna's husband, Desmond. She has brought squares cut from Daisy's old dresses to sew into a memory quilt. Heather's mother, Renee, was diagnosed with rapidly progressing dementia, and Heather burned out caring for her while teaching full-time.

Meanwhile, Ginny creates a fake profile on ChainReaxions under the name "Jenny" and begins exchanging messages with Adrian, who does not realize he is talking to his own wife. They rediscover their playful communication, but Adrian confides that his wife "lost interest" in him, which stings Ginny. She finds she can be more emotionally honest as Jenny than as herself.

Eric leads a hike to a hilltop chapel where the group lights candles in a moment of collective peace. A stray dog follows them down, and Eric names him Biscotti. For Edna's activity, each person creates a quilt block representing their heartbreak, but Biscotti snatches the quilt and disappears. Edna is devastated, blames Ginny, and retreats to her room.

At Gianfranco's castle hotel, the group tries gong therapy, a sound healing session. Ginny breaks down, confessing that Adrian left her, joined a dating site, and that she has been chatting with him under a fake identity. The group embraces her. Ginny visits the castle's wedding celebration room, where she had hoped to renew her vows, and faints. She chooses to recover at Splendido, feeling it is where she belongs.

In Venice, Nico buys Ginny a Venetian carnival mask and leads her to a hidden garden. Ginny's daughter, Phoebe, calls with news that she is pregnant. Overjoyed, Ginny embraces Nico, and they kiss. The kiss lingers before Ginny pulls away, thinking of Adrian and of her own mother, whom she once witnessed in an intimate embrace with a stranger.

The group confronts Curtis about his secretive behavior. He reveals he has a glioblastoma, a terminal brain tumor, and that his note-taking has been for a personal blog called Curtis's Brain Blog. Curtis proposes his activity: a night of dancing at a beach bar in Rimini. A wave knocks Ginny off her feet, and Curtis rescues her. Back at Splendido, Nico is furious that Loretta was in the water, and Gianfranco accidentally reveals Loretta has been secretly working at his hotel. Nico, feeling betrayed, tells the group he is unsure he wants them to stay.

Adrian arrives in Italy unannounced with a silver photo frame as an anniversary gift. He proposes they renew their vows the next afternoon at the castle and reveals he has brought Phoebe and her fiancé, Pete, for a symbolic ceremony. Ginny is overwhelmed but does not commit. The next morning, she decides to proceed. The group offers gifts: Edna gives her Daisy's silver pendant necklace as "something old," and Curtis provides a blue baseball cap.

At the ceremony, standing under the floral arch, Ginny is flooded with memories of Adrian's betrayal. A strong gut feeling tells her not to proceed. She tells Adrian she cannot renew her vows because their issues remain unresolved. Phoebe, witnessing her mother's honesty, admits she has doubts about her own rushed ceremony. The family agrees to take more time. Ginny flees to the hilltop chapel, where Eric and Biscotti find her. She removes her wedding ring and threads it onto Edna's necklace chain.

In the final days, Heather departs, resolved to embrace her mother's new reality. The group celebrates Loretta's 18th birthday. Nico tells Ginny he accepts Maria is never coming back. Curtis leaves without a formal goodbye. Before departing, Ginny shares a final moment with Nico; he kisses her cheek and says arrivederci, meaning "until we see each other again." At the airport, Edna confesses she was Miss Peach: She recognized Adrian from selling her late husband's car at his dealership, where she saw his dating profile, and called the show out of loneliness. Ginny recognizes that Edna's painful call set in motion the events that changed her life.

Ten months later, Ginny has returned to Vigornuovo to work at Splendido. In England, she and Adrian rebuild their friendship, but Ginny realizes she needs to discover who she is as an individual. Curtis dies in November, and his final blog post praising Splendido as "a haven for broken hearts" goes viral, bringing a flood of inquiries. Nico rebrands the hotel with a hallway display of mementos from the original group. Adrian supports Ginny's decision to return to Italy, promising to wait. The novel ends with Ginny and Nico standing side by side in the courtyard, drinking cappuccinos and watching the morning sky brighten, as Ginny feels a quiet excitement for whatever comes next.