Top 10 Romantic Rome Hotels

Photo by Giuseppe Moscato via flickr

The best romantic places to stay in Rome include theatrical interiors, sumptuous suites, candlelit roof terraces and four-poster beds.

Campo de' Fiori

A romantic refuge at the heart of the centro storico, this 23-room boutique hotel exudes charm from its ivy covered façade to its plushly theatrical bedrooms and secret roof terrace. Elements of Venice and Paris, as well as the Eternal City, are thown into the hotel’s warm, extrovert design mix, which uses marble, antiques, terracotta tiles, chandeliers, velvet and silk brocades and Mediterranean hues on the sponged walls to create an intimate, romantic refuge from the bustle outside.

Each room is a little boudoir done out with individual brio by designer Dario Di Blasi. However, the standard doubles can be a bit small and viewless; for more space and light, opt for a deluxe, or splash out on one of the two top-floor superior deluxes. Not only do these have little private balconies, but they’re also the most romantically over the top of the 23 rooms, with four-poster beds, frescoed ceilings and brocade wall coverings. There’s no restaurant or bar – but breakfast is a generous spread, and there’s a lovely roof terrace where you can fix your own aperitivi.

 

Residenza Torre Colonna

Torre Colonna defines the word “central”: this Medieval tower looms over Rome’s archeological area. It’s strikingly Medieval outside but the feel within is decidedly contemporary, with works by Italian artist Natino Chirico on the walls and bold colours in the soft furnishings. Up on the roof terrace, with its spectacular views over Trajan’s market, there’s a five-person hot tub for weary guests to chill out in.

The five guestrooms are stacked one on top of the other in what was once the defence tower of the noble Colonna family. They’re all surprisingly spacious for such a narrow-looking tower, with ample storage space and free Wi-Fi. A lavish breakfast buffet is laid out in the red-walled top-floor dining room. The orange juice is wonderfully fresh and there’s an egg-poaching machine too. Honeymooners are attracted to this Rapunzel-like tower in the very centre of Rome’s centro storico.

Portrait Suites

Above the Ferragamo store in Rome’s high-end fashion street, Via Condotti, Portrait Suites is just a short sashay from the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. It's suave and very private: think of it as a high class residence rather than a hotel. Michele Bonan’s design scheme is classic modern with splashes of extravagant colour. The Ferragamo tie-in is kept discreet – there are shoe patterns on the silk curtain lining, and framed sketches from the company’s archives in the corridors.

When they say suites, they mean suites: even the entry-level Superiors are spacious. 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.

Lord Byron

It’s been going for decades, but this secluded, elegant, antique-filled five-star near the Borghese Gardens still does pampered, exclusive luxury like few others. Art Deco verve and Belle Epoque romance meet in a mix which nevertheless manages to feel light and fresh. With its elegant clubroom atmosphere, the Salotto Lounge & Wine Bar is perfect for indulging fin-de-siecle fantasies over a glass of bubbly in one of Europe’s most romantic cities.

With just 32 individually decorated rooms, this is an intimate luxury hotel, and the rooms themselves are as intimate a Roman retreat as one could desire, with warm colours, crisp linen sheets, bathrooms done out in Carrara marble and just a dash of Deco decadence. Sapori di Lord Byron, with its light cordon bleu pan-Italian cuisine, is firmly established on the Roman smart set’s list of venues for high-level entertaining.

Hotel Indigo

Hotel Indigo achieves the contemporary classic look with verve and flair, making this a very stylish centro storico bolthole. The lashings of travertine marble, leather armchairs and the occasional hint of Art Deco all nod at Italy’s great 20th-century design tradition, and the pretty outside courtyard and roof garden give guests some breathing space beyond the hotel’s compact lobby, library and cigar room spaces.

With their pale parquet floors, Deco-style pleated lampshades, framed black and white photos of Rome and cherrywood antique furniture, the St George’s 64 rooms emanate comfortable elegance. But size can be an issue: the St George is housed in a Renaissance-era palazzo, and strict planning regulations mean they couldn’t do much about the existing room layout. So if you’re looking for more space, be sure to book at least a Deluxe room.

Spalletti Trivelli

The Villa is well-placed for pretty much everything, from the train station, to the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain, to some of Rome’s best restaurants. 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 – at least for the duration of your stay.

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. Bathrooms are spacious and lined in marble from top-to-toe, and all have baths as well as showers - not a given in Rome. And the well-stocked minbars are complimentary. Breakfast is a huge spread with plenty of just-baked pastries and fresh fruit, plus a full range of hot options to order.

Crossing Condotti

Just a few doors down from swanky Portrait Suites, this dinky guest house is on the first floor of an 18th-century townhouse in the heart of the fashion shopping district. Essentialy a centro storico apartment converted into a charmingly elegant guest house it has an antique-moderne design straight out of a coffee table book. The exposed wooden beams, antiquarian oil paintings and family silver lend class and tone.

The five bedrooms feature warm parquet floors, a sprinkle of antique furniture, paintings and prints, crisp white cotton sheets and duvets, and bold-striped fabrics. Bathrooms are in a more contemporary design hotel idiom. On offer are tea and coffee making facilities in each room, a communal kitchenette with a Nespresso machine and free soft drinks.

Del Senato

Del Senato is popular with people who are looking for romance and atmosphere but with all the comforts and services of a traditional three-star hotel thrown in. It’s the classic antique-filled traditional Roman hotel, except that where some of its rivals are dusty and dowdy the Del Senato is elegant, highly-polished and full of fresh flowers. It is tucked away by the side of the Pantheon, in the heart of Old Rome, on a road that sees little motorised traffic.

Angle for a front-facing room; those overlooking the alleyway to the side of the hotel can be a little dark. All rooms, however, are elegantly decorated with polished parquet floors, wall-coverings in warm silk brocade, and graceful antique furniture. The superior doubles have good views over the Pantheon and the little piazza in front – but for a real treat, plump for a top-floor Penthouse Suite, which comes complete with panoramic terrace.

Relais Giulia

In a building that once belonged to the Farnese family, the 13-room Relais Giulia, which opened in 2012, keeps things elegantly minimalist on the interior, all the better to enjoy the bustling Roman life outside. Elegantly minimalist, the Relais will suit even the most demanding followers of fashion. The very restrained colour palette is a fine foil, in some rooms, for fragments of fresco discovered and restored during renovation.

With their pale colour schemes and modern four-poster beds, the Relais Giulia’s rooms are very stylish. Standard rooms are on the small side, though no more so than in most Rome hotels. In larger rooms, the bathrooms have whirlpool baths. One suite has a delightful balcony on Via Giulia itself. Though the street is not particularly noisy, the courtyard-facing accommodation may suit light sleepers better. A continental breakfast is brought direct to your room.

Suites Trastevere

Bright, contemporary and somewhat Scandinavian in its hall, corridors and funky communal kitchen, Suites Trastevere takes on a whole different trompe l’oeil Baroque character in its five deliciously theatrical bedrooms. Marco, the owner and host, is a one-man powerhouse, meeting, greeting and helping you make the most out of the city.

The bedrooms are what you come here for. Okay, they’re not suites in the strict sense of the word, but they are spacious, with mostly roomy modern bathrooms, all of which have rainhead showers. But the x-factor is the décor: each of the five rooms is named after a Roman landmark (the Trevi Fountain, Villa Borghese…) and frescoed by artist Stefania Savioli to make you feel you’re there – so in the Pantheon suite, for example, you lie in bed gazing up at a painted oval patch of sky peeping through the oculus in the middle of the dome.

This article was from The Daily Telegraph and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.