Hotel de la Ville

"Hotel de la Ville, a refined establishment of the Rocco Forte Hotels group and holder of One MICHELIN Key, is home to Cielo, a rooftop bar that perfectly embodies the luxury and elegance of Rome. From Cielo's terrace, with its red and white striped sofas and parasols, you are privy to one of the most spectacular sunsets in the Eternal City, with spellbinding views from the top of the Trinità dei Monti. Close your eyes and imagine the barman serving you a perfectly balanced cocktail, while chef Fulvio Pierangelini prepares dishes that celebrate Italian flavors. The cicchetti – small amuse-bouches full of flavor – are the perfect accompaniment. Night falls and envelopes the Ancient rooftops of Rome in its star-studded embrace. Music courtesy of a DJ makes for a lively yet elegant atmosphere, each note mingling with the sound of laughter and clinking of glasses. The view from the terrace takes in the city, from the majestic dome of St Peter's to the historical monuments that tell the story of thousands of years of history. Cielo is more than just a bar; it's an experience that encapsulates the soul of Rome, a moment that, like a scene from a timeless travel tale, will remain etched in your memory." - The MICHELIN Guide

"Rocco Forte Hotel De La Ville is a luxury hotel in Rome, awarded a Michelin Key for its high standards in service and accommodations." - The MICHELIN Guide

"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

"Set the scene. In the 18th century, Rome was full of young, northern aristocrats bent on improving their minds, seeing some ruins, and perhaps flirting a little along the way. Italian architect Tommaso Ziffer has taken this Grand Tour theme for a playful walk in his design scheme in which pompadoured ladies and improving landscapes have been digitally copied onto Napoleonic yellow wallpaper, repro micro-mosaics (popular souvenir purchases back in the day), adorned coffee tables, and nests of convex mirrors add a surreal touch. It all makes for a fresh, unpretentious take on the Roman luxe hotel genre. What’s the backstory? Rocco Forte shook up the Rome hotel scene when he opened the suave De Russie in 2000. Twenty years on, the Anglo-Italian hotelier has returned to the Italian capital with the same designer in tow, Tommaso Ziffer, to transform a staid five-star, the InterContinental De La Ville, that for years had been running on Dolce Vita fumes. Only the last part of the name remains in Ziffer’s engaging top-to-toe makeover. What can we expect in our room? Once beyond the slightly alarming red embossed leather-effect doors, rooms are delightful refuges that play on neoclassical, antiquarian, and archaeological motifs, from the geometric patterns in the plush velvet headboards to fabrics printed with Piranesi’s etchings of Roman pine trees. Don’t count on sweeping views over Roman rooftops, though: only the three glamorous top-floor hideaways Canova, Roma, and De La Ville, plus a handful of other rooms offer those (find the word "panoramic" in the room category). Most look onto a quiet inner courtyard or straight and narrow Via Sistina. How about the food and drink? All of Rocco Forte’s Italian properties—plus the Hotel Amigo in Brussels—have a single creative director of food, celebrated Roman-born, Tuscan-trained chef Fulvio Pierangelini. In Mosaico, the restaurant situated a little awkwardly at the center of the hotel, Pierangelini pushes the Mediterranean east via the Bosphorus to India and beyond in a menu that mixes up naan bread, manakeesh, and burrata. However, we were much more taken by streetside Da Sistina, its décor and food both giving a fresh twist to the traditional Roman trattoria—so, for example, the traditional sheep’s cheese and black-pepper pasta topping known as cacio e pepe is done with three different peppers, and the addition of Sicilian red prawns. What’s the crowd like? The film stars and fashionistas are still likely to gravitate towards the De Russie, the hotel that more than any other has become the must-book address for those invested in Rome’s new Dolce Vita. This younger, more laid-back cousin is for global millennials, moneyed but still value-oriented, who respond to the hotel’s sophisticated but light-hearted spin on Rome’s weight of history. Anything to say about the service? Only that they seem to be quite good at building warmth into the professionalism you would expect from a hotel of this level. What’s the neighborhood scene like? Unless headed to Villa Borghese, your default direction will be down the Spanish Steps and into the heart of Rome’s centro storico, a shopping and art-gallery zone—a saunter that should take all of three minutes. Make sure to graze and grab a tipple around here, as the restaurants at the top of the Steps are mostly stuck in a Via Veneto time warp. Anything else to add? One big draw is the Sicilian-themed basement De La Ville Spa, it’s got five single treatment rooms and one double kitted out for Rasul mud rituals, plus a thermal area with all the usual hot and cold spaces. Anything you’d change? We would perhaps have sacrificed one of the large rooftop rooms to create a restaurant with a view—a privilege currently enjoyed only by the lovely but surprisingly small Cielo Bar terrace. Is it worth it? For Rome, yes—and it’s also better value than its nearby Rocco Forte cousin, the De Russie, though it lacks the gorgeous garden and the celebrity kudos." - Lee Marshall

"This 18th-century palazzo recalls its vintage past while it offers contemporary comforts, white marble bathrooms, an expansive spa, and Mosaico, a delightful umbrella-adorned courtyard for al fresco dining and an elegant indoor area with an open kitchen. Da Sistina focuses on classic Roman cuisine, and rooftop terrace, Cielo, features breathtaking views along with a selection of dishes showcasing the style of Fulvio Pierangelini, Rocco Forte Hotels’ creative director of food. Accommodations include guest rooms, suites, special suites with private terraces, and the palatial De La Ville Penthouse Suite spanning two floors with a private elevator." - Travel + Leisure Editors