Top 10: The Best Luxury Hotels in Rome

Photo by Freeimages.com/Antonio La Trippa

by Erica Firpo and Lee Marshall, The Daily Telegraph, May 05, 2016

An insider's guide to the top luxury hotels in Rome, including the best for rooftop restaurants, Colosseum views, sumptuous spas and lavish bedrooms, in locations including the centro storico and the Piazza di Spagna.

The First Luxury Art Hotel Roma

When is a hotel not a hotel? When it’s also an art gallery – one which showcases the work of Italian and international artists in both common areas and bedrooms. This 29-room urban refuge is a good, discreet alternative to larger luxe palaces, and in its decked rooftop bar it has one of the best panoramic perches in the centro storico. The rooms follow the compartmentalised layout of Roman apartments, making them intimate and homely (some even have fireplaces). The main ground-floor restaurant is the gourmet’s choice; it’s worth putting barman Luca de Filippis through his paces – ask him to mix you a Frankenstein, then sit back and enjoy the show.

Read the full review: The First Luxury Art Hotel Roma

The First Luxury Art Hotel Roma is a good, discreet alternative to larger luxe palaces.

Villa Spalletti Trivelli

Imagine having an antique-and art-stuffed palazzo, complete with elegant formal garden, that has been in your family for over a century – a place with opulent interiors of such historic significance that they are listed by the Italian heritage ministry. Well, you do here. If the museum-like reception rooms downstairs can inspire a certain don’t-touch awe, the 12 first-floor bedrooms are warm and welcoming with their rich fabrics, pastel-hued walls and bedcovers, Fiandra linen sheets and alpaca or cashmere throws. There’s an honesty aperitivo bar, and dinner can be arranged (in the garden in summer).

Read the full review: Villa Spalletti Trivelli

The owner of Residenza Napoleone III, Principessa Letizia Ruspoli, has created a single guest apartment out of a whole suite of rooms, where the Emperor Napoleon III once stayed, on the piano nobile of her opulent family abode, amidst chandeliers, oil paintings and museum-quality antiques. The Old Master paintings you see on the walls, the busts of Roman emperors that line the grand entrance staircase, the heirloom antiques that decorate the place – all these things have been in the Ruspoli family for generations. But this is no draughty castle – it feels warm despite the grand setting. A highlight is the Roof Garden Suite, an intimate, cultured refuge surrounded by greenery with 360-degree views over the domes and rooftops of central Rome.

Read the full review: Residenza Napoleone III

Place Roma

One of Italy’s classiest townhouse hotels, J.K. Place has been much imitated, but few of the copies match the warm, suave, elegant original. For once, the design – based on a discreet, quietly opulent Dolce Vita retro look – is as impressive in the bedrooms as it is in the downstairs communal areas. They derive much of their charm from the no-expenses-spared quality of the materials used, including antique fireplaces and original framed fashion-house sketches. It is five minutes’ walk from the Spanish Steps, and also well-placed for the Vatican and the northern reaches of the centro storico.

Read the full review: J.K. Place Roma

Palazzo Manfredi

It makes no secret of its luxury cachet, this 16-room gem so close to the Colosseum that you can almost hear the lions roar. From the moment you step through the discreet door to be greeted like visiting royalty, the Manfredi dazzles with its tastefully glamorous décor and stunning views. Done out in a fairly masculine style with an autumnal palette, the rooms feel a little Parisian at times, though details like repro classical busts, or the playful Palladian wallpaper in the Executive Rooms, help to ground one in the Eternal City. The cuisine matches the view in the rooftop Aroma restaurant.

Read the full review: Palazzo Manfredi

Hotel De Russie

The city's first true design hotel, the De Russie has managed admirably – partly thanks to the timelessly retro, Ancient-Rome-meets-Art-Deco décor, and partly due to the constant updates – to keep fresh. The standout feature will always be the courtyard, summer home to the hotel’s classy cocktail bar and restaurant. The Stravinskij Bar is a favourite meeting spot for affluent Romans looking to impress dates or business clients; a floor above, the Jardin de Russie restaurant has become less frou-frou since it passed into the capable hands of executive chef Fulvio Pierangelini, an earthy Tuscan who makes a virtue of simplicity. It’s worth angling for a room that faces into the courtyard and garden.

Read the full review: Hotel De Russie
The city's first true design hotel, the De Russie has managed admirably to keep fresh.

Portrait Roma

This 14-suite bolthole, a short sashay from the Spanish Steps, is one of the city’s most stylish luxe options, lent panache by Michele Bonan’s tasteful contemporary-retro design scheme. The discreet service, courtesy of a dedicated ‘lifestyle team’, is unparalleled – as is the cachet of the guests-only rooftop bar. In the suites, rich fabrics play off against austere earth tones in walls and carpets; and there are fun little touches like video fireplaces. There’s no restaurant, but they do have one of Rome’s most panoramic roof-terraces, where aperitivos can be enjoyed of an evening, and where you can choose to have breakfast served if you don’t want it in your room.

Read the full review: Portrait Roma

Hassler Roma

A hotel with a larger-than-life personality, looming presence above Piazza di Spagna and a Michelin-starred panoramic restaurant. What brings the Hassler charmingly down to earth though is its very personalised service, time-capsule Forties bar, bespoke concierge-curated activities and very stylised modern rooms. The Hassler style is a mercurial mix of original Belle Époque grandeur and a contemporary revisit of Art Deco, as curated by Astrid Schiller Wirth. For the nearly a decade, the Michelin-starred restaurant Imagò has reigned on the Hassler’s sixth floor with its spectacular panoramic view and equally spell-binding Italian-fusion cuisine. 

Read the full review: Hassler Roma

Babuino 181

The chic, pied-a-terre vibe of Babuino 181 is key to its top ranking as one of Rome’s best and most discreet hideaways. The 14 rooms are dreamy hideouts of Frette linens, king-sized beds, comfortable couches, large windows, and natural woods blending with the hotel’s delicious warm tones of umbers, ochres and beiges. For a nightcap, head to Babuino’s rooftop terrace and peruse the cocktail menu. It's at the very epicentre of contemporary Rome, especially for the shopping set. The fashion triangle that extends from Piazza del Popolo to Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps) and Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina includes boutiques, antique shops, art galleries and caffès.

Read the full review: Babuino 181

Rome Cavalieri

The Cavalieri is an old-fashioned all-rounder. This 1960s luxe player perched high above the city on verdant Monte Mario offers everything from museum-quality artworks in the lobby, to Rome’s leading gourmet restaurant, La Pergola, via three outdoor swimming pools and a huge, full-featured 25,000 square-feet spa and fitness club. Surveying Rome from its rooftop perch is one of Italy’s leading restaurants – La Pergola, the fiefdom of Heinz Beck, a German chef with a Mediterranean soul. Each of the 345 bedrooms has its own private balcony.

Read the full review: Rome Cavalieri

  • Residenza Napoleone III Rome, Italy Telegraph expert rating 8

    The owner, Principessa Letizia Ruspoli, has created a single guest apartment out of a whole suite of rooms, where the Emperor Napoleon III once stayed, on the piano nobile of her opulent family abode, amidst chandeliers, oil paintings and museum-quality antiques. Read expert review

    From£705inc. tax

    Check Availability

    Rates provided by Booking.com

  • Portrait Roma Rome, Italy Telegraph expert rating 8

    This 14-suite bolthole, a short sashay from the Spanish Steps, is one of the city’s most stylish luxe options, lent panache by Michele Bonan’s tasteful contemporary-retro design scheme. The discreet service, courtesy of a dedicated ‘lifestyle team’, is unparalleled – as is the cachet of the guests-only rooftop bar. Read expert review

    From£528inc. tax

    Check Availability

    Rates provided by Booking.com

  • Hotel De Russie Rome, Italy Telegraph expert rating 8

    The city's first true design hotel, the De Russie has managed admirably – partly thanks to the timelessly retro, Ancient-Rome-meets-Art-Deco décor, and partly due to the constant updates – to keep fresh. The standout feature will always be the courtyard, summer home to the hotel’s classy cocktail bar and restaurant. Read expert review

    From£419inc. tax

    Check Availability

    Rates provided by Booking.com

 

This article was written by ERICA FIRPO and Lee Marshall from The Daily Telegraph and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.