"Santo Mauro’s classic status lies beyond the tawdry plane of real life. Built between 1898 and 1902 as the private palacio of the Dukes of Santo Mauro, who still own the building, the 49-room bubble of gorgeousness, now part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection, occupies an affluent corner of the Almagro neighborhood, where the ebullience of Chamberí gives way to embassies and private clinics. High-ceilinged public rooms compete in fin de siècle grandeur, but design doyen Lorenzo Castillo’s major interior refresh has removed some of the old hauteur, bringing a certain lightness and chic in spite of the many engravings and antiques. The walls have been upholstered and ceiling moldings under-lit; restored parquet floors creak underfoot. The wood-paneled La Biblioteca Gresca is now the setting for Barcelona-based chef Rafael Peña’s refined Mediterranean market cooking. An outpost of his Gresca in Barcelona, it serves traditional Spanish fare surrounded by walls of colorful books. Meanwhile, the French-style formal garden has been reimagined by landscaper Fernando Valero as a maze of box hedges and trickling fountains, with crunching gravel, towering horse chestnut trees, and fences draped with ivy."
