Hotel de la Ville – a Grand Tour reborn above the Spanish Steps

At the top of the Spanish Steps, where Via Sistina opens onto the view across Piazza di Spagna and Trinità dei Monti, Hotel de la Ville occupies three joined eighteenth-century palazzi gathered around a single courtyard. Rocco Forte Hotels took on the address in 2019, reopening it after a two-and-a-half-year remodel led by architect Tommaso Ziffer working with Olga Polizzi, the group's design director, who together built the interiors around the spirit of the eighteenth-century Grand Tour. The result is 104 rooms and suites that mix contemporary furniture with an unmistakably Roman sense of theatre, a courtyard restaurant, a rooftop bar with the best panorama on the hill, and a kitchen overseen by the Michelin-starred Fulvio Pierangelini. The MICHELIN Guide gives the hotel Two Keys, placing it among the handful of Roman addresses it considers an exceptional stay.

01The house

Hotel de la Ville is not one palazzo but three, drawn together around a single courtyard in the heart of the Centro Storico. Since joining the Rocco Forte Hotels portfolio in 2019, this five-star address in the Centro Storico is spread across three 18th-century palazzi deftly brought together around a sun-splashed courtyard. The property joined the Rocco Forte collection in 2019, following an extensive 2.5-year remodel, and the building's history runs back further still: it dates to the eighteenth century, when European nobles elected it their favourite place in Italy during the period of the Grand Tour.

The transformation was overseen by architect Tommaso Ziffer together with Olga Polizzi, Rocco Forte's sister and the group's director of design, who unveiled the eclectic Grand Tour-inspired interiors following her appointment of Ziffer to the project. So thorough was the rebuild that only the original marble staircase remains from the old palazzo. Ziffer also chose to break with convention underfoot: rather than traditional marble, he substituted terracotta, partnering with Fornace Sugaroni, a company that has produced handmade terracotta since 1865, to create the special black-and-white terracotta pigment for the hotel. Throughout the house, custom-designed wallpaper handcrafted by Rubelli and Dedar and vintage tapestries by Zardi & Zardi line the walls. At its centre, the courtyard was imagined by landscape designer George Carter, inspired by 17th-century geometry, as a modern spin on the Grand Tour — a plan that united what had been three separate buildings into one.

02Rooms and suites

The 104 rooms and suites combine contemporary style with Rocco Forte's inimitable touch, and all accommodations have traditional wooden floors, elegant marble bathrooms, and views over the city or the courtyard. Decoration leans towards colour and pattern rather than hush: rooms are artistic in design, with opulent Indian throws and bursts of colour, looking onto either Via Sistina or the hotel courtyard.

Insider tip

Steps from Piazza di Spagna, Via Condotti and the Trevi Fountain, with Villa Borghese a ten-minute walk.

At the top of the house, the Suite de la Ville, on the eighth floor and reached by a private lift, is the hotel's crown jewel, furnished with a curated collection of contemporary and antique furniture and its own art, plus two panoramic terraces. Other signature suites follow the same logic: the 15 suites include two signature suites and a presidential suite with its own kitchen, study and two terraces. Suite guests with a taste for private terraces will find red pinstriped sofas, sun loungers and parasols offering a quiet retreat from the city below.

03Where to eat

Food across the hotel answers to one name. All dining sits under Fulvio Pierangelini, Creative Director of Food for Rocco Forte Hotels, who runs what the general manager calls six bars and restaurants, offering experiences from contemporary Roman dishes to ambitious international fusion cuisine. On the ground floor, Italian trattoria Da Sistina offers cappuccinos and croissants from the early hours, an all-day menu of contemporary Roman dishes, and pre- and post-theatre menus for the theatre across the street.

The flagship is Mosaico, on the second floor overlooking the courtyard, where Pierangelini has created an Italian menu influenced by the herbs, spices and flavours the ancient Romans brought back from their empire, infusing local produce with flourishes from Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans, including za'atar, hummus and rum-marinated bananas. The all-day menu runs to dishes such as artichokes prepared raw, fried and pickled, fava beans with lemon cream, and deep-fried baby prawns, cooked using a wood-fired oven for fresh focaccia, alongside breakfast favourites like the "Carbonara scrambled eggs". On the ground floor, Café Ginori brings porcelain into the dining room: it offers a dynamic twist on classic Italian cuisine, in partnership with Ginori 1735, Italy's porcelain and lifestyle brand.

04The bar

Two very different bars share the building. Julep, on the second floor, draws its story from an old trade route: it takes its cues from the thirteenth-century Via delle Spezie, the Spice Route along which spices once travelled from India and Persia via Venice, reworked here into a cocktail list of innovative infusions. Above it all is Cielo, with the bar on the sixth floor and the restaurant on the seventh, recently renovated by Paolo Moschino, allowing the space to be used year-round.

The rooftop Cielo Bar offers unparalleled 360-degree views of Rome's historic centre and Vatican City, and the ritual here is well known: spend at least one early evening at Cielo facing the Vatican, and watch the dome of St Peter's Basilica light up as the sun sets. By day it is a spot for small plates and a glass of wine or sangria, turning in the evening to dinner, flaming cocktails and DJ sessions after sundown, the drink of choice often a well-mixed negroni with wide-ranging views of Rome.

05Spa and wellbeing

The 550-square-metre spa is among the most technically advanced in the capital, run under the Irene Forte name. Irene Forte Spa specialises in organic treatments featuring Irene Forte Skincare products, with signature rituals such as the Etna Age-Defying Facial and the Sicilian Scrub. Five treatment rooms sit alongside a thermal circuit, and the fitness centre is outfitted with the latest Technogym equipment for guests who would rather train than unwind.

06The neighbourhood

The address could hardly be more central. The hotel sits beside the Hotel Hassler, sharing the famed bluff beside the Trinità dei Monti church and Villa Medici, directly above the Spanish Steps. The Trevi Fountain is a ten-minute walk away, and Villa Borghese is a ten-minute walk from the hotel, while Spagna Metro station is just yards away. It is a neighbourhood built for shopping as much as sightseeing, with Via Condotti and its grand names a short stroll downhill from the hotel's door.

07Making the most of a stay

Time a visit to Cielo for the last hour before dark: the seats facing the Vatican are the ones to ask for, so the dome of St Peter's can be watched lighting up as the sky turns over Rome. Suite guests can go further still, with an "Above and Beyond" experience that opens up Rome's hidden rooftops and private palazzi, with aperitivo curated by Fulvio Pierangelini and stargazing on the Astro Bed. For a quieter hour, choose a corner table at Mosaico in the courtyard, and save the second-floor Julep bar for after dinner, when its spice-route cocktails come into their own.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.