Rome has no shortage of fancy hotels, but few feel as alive as this one. Occupying three connected palazzi on Via Sistina, literally at the top of the Spanish Steps, the building spent centuries hosting European nobles on their Grand Tours before becoming a hotel in the 1920s. In 2019, Rocco Forte gave it a head-to-toe transformation that's bold, colourful and full of wit, without ever losing touch with its magical 18th-century bones. Celebrity chef Fulvio Pierangelini runs the kitchens, the rooftop draws Romans and visitors alike, and the location is within a few minutes' stroll of pretty much everything. It's polished, buzzy and thoroughly Roman.
The interiors are a love letter to the Grand Tour era and designers Tommaso Ziffer and Olga Polizzi have filled the Hotel de la Ville with jewel-toned velvets, handmade terracotta tiles, Piranesi prints and plenty of marvellous curiosities. Breakfast in the Mosaico courtyard under red-and-white-striped parasols is a properly Roman start to the day, whilst Café Ginori serves inventive Italian dishes on signature tableware. On the seventh floor, Cielo delivers seasonal Mediterranean cooking with views to the Vatican. There's also an Irene Forte Spa that spans two floors and includes a salt inhalation room and Sicilian botanical treatments.
All 104 rooms and suites are individually decorated in a playful mix of contemporary furniture, sumptuous fabrics and Grand Tour-era nods, with plenty of geometric black-and-white rugs, Neoclassical profiles and wardrobes inlaid with Roman pine-tree motifs. Traditional wooden floors and elegant marble bathrooms run throughout. Most rooms have French balconies or small terraces, whilst the signature suites on the upper floors have large, sweeping terraces looking over the city skyline. Then there's the eighth-floor Suite de la Ville, reached by private lift, with its own art collection and two panoramic terraces.
With the Spanish Steps on your doorstep, Rome is yours for the taking. The Trevi Fountain is ten minutes on foot, Villa Borghese's gardens are just up the hill, and the Colosseum and Pantheon are an easy walk or short cab ride away. The concierge team can arrange anything from a Vespa tour inspired by 'Roman Holiday' to private gallery viewings and Vatican visits before the crowds descend. Back at the hotel, the spa's cryosauna is a surprisingly addictive way to recover from all that sightseeing... and gelato!
Sunset at the Cielo rooftop bar, cocktail in hand, with 360-degree views across domes, cupolas and terracotta rooftops. Even the bartenders at rival hotels recommend it!
Grab a vermouth and take a proper look around the Julep Bar with its 19th-century wood-burning stove and bespoke wallpaper inspired by Piranesi's etchings of Rome.
The street-facing rooms on Via Sistina can catch the early-morning noise, so ask for a courtyard-view room if you're a light sleeper.
2,000 years of history – and excellent aperitivo – in one of the prettiest capital cities in the world.
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