Hotel de la Ville, a Rocco Forte Hotel

Hotel de la Ville, a Rocco Forte Hotel

Leave Hotel de la Ville and the Spanish Steps are already in sight, Trevi Fountain a short walk beyond. The Rocco Forte address sits inside a restored 18th-century palazzo, reworked by architect Tommaso Ziffer and designer Olga Polizzi to keep its Grand Tour character while adding modern touches, spread across 192 rooms and eight floors. Two presidential suites hold panoramic terraces over the rooftops, a detail rarely matched by other hotels in this pocket of the city. What sets it apart from the palazzo hotels nearby is the spa: two full floors, 550 square metres, built around a hydro pool and plunge pool, with a gym, sauna, steam room and massage rooms attached, treatment space most central Rome hotels simply do not have room for. Guests eat across six venues on site, from bar to restaurant to café, with vegetarian and gluten-free options on the menu and Maestro Fulvio Pierangelini overseeing the kitchens. There is a full business centre with meeting rooms for those working through the trip, and a playroom and babysitting for those travelling with children, though the grand proportions and adult-leaning public rooms suit couples and solo travellers more naturally than a family holiday. Staff speak nine languages, useful given the international crowd a Spanish Steps address draws. It is not a place for anyone hunting a bargain: wifi, breakfast and parking all carry separate charges, and a nightly city tax applies. What it offers instead is a central position without compromise and a spa built larger than most hotels this close to the centre can manage, inside a palazzo that still reads as Rome rather than a renovation of it. Beside the Spanish Steps, Hotel de la Ville pairs a restored 18th-century palazzo with a 550-square-metre spa and six dining venues under Maestro Fulvio Pierangelini. Two presidential suites open onto rooftop terraces, though wifi, breakfast and parking all cost extra.