"If Rocco Forte’s Hotel de Russie is Anita Ekberg all dressed up in the Trevi Fountain in La Dolce Vita, then Hotel De La Ville is Roman Holiday’s Audrey Hepburn on a Vespa—younger, fresher, and with a bit more pep. Located at the top of the Spanish Steps, it’s a head-to-toe overhaul of the Intercontinental De La Ville, a once-glamorous address that had become increasingly staid. There’s nothing boring about Tommaso Ziffer’s new interiors: Twenty years after his debonair, Art Deco–tinged work on the de Russie, he’s in a playful mood. In the rooms, the walls are hung with convex mirrors and digital reproductions of antique prints, and the colors range from the softest powder blue to mustard yellow and rich plum. The De La Ville’s decorative verve makes up for the fact that very few of the 104 rooms and suites have full-on city views, though book a De La Ville suite if that’s a deal-breaker. But the millennials who are already flocking to this good-looking Roman berth are unlikely to complain. The Silk Road–inspired cocktails at the rooftop bar and the updated traditional Roman dishes at the streetside trattoria help focus the mind on what’s on the inside." - Maresa Manara
