Rome Rising: A New Wave of Hotels Brings Creative Flair to the Eternal City

There’s a reason why Rome is nicknamed ‘the Eternal City’ – and not just because the endless relics of times gone by can be discovered in its cobbled streets and bucket-list historical sights. It’s also because there’s never a bad time to go (except perhaps the sweltering temperatures during the tourist month of August).

That said, a new guard of hotel openings has arrived over the course of 2023, offering a range of different perspectives on the city – whether it’s the Bulgari Hotel’s tribute to both the brand’s legacy and one in Rome established jewelery house as well as the rich history of the building in which it is located, or of a new outpost of the Edition hotel group, which celebrates the vibrant creative spirit of the younger generations currently making their mark on the city.

Here’s our guide to the new wave of hotels reimagining Rome for the modern traveler.

In June this year, a new layer of history was added to the grand Piazza Augusto Imperatore, home to the mausoleum of the first Roman emperor Augustus: the Bulgari Hotel Roma. Located in a huge Mussolini-era rationalist building that has been meticulously renovated from top to bottom (a four-year process due to its historical significance), the idea was born that the hotel – which is also a short walk from the Roman jewelry house’s headquarters – would offer opulence on the grandest scale is something that goes without saying. And once you step through the doors, you’ll immediately know you’re in Bulgari land, with glittering mosaic details, corrugated marble, lacquered wood and fresh neutrals covering every surface.

But while Bulgari’s glamorous, gilded hotel formula is completely present and correct, it is also underpinned by a very Italian design discipline that nods to the building’s origins in the 1930s, whether it is the Ginori vases from the same decade designed by Gio Ponti, or to see the several original mid-century pieces scattered throughout the property. There is also a lavishly appointed spa complex, inspired by the ancient Roman baths of Caracalla, which is simultaneously luxurious and relaxing. Not least because of its dramatic centrepiece: a 20-metre-long pool with eight columns of arabesque marble, with sparkling alcoves of black and gold that house both relaxation areas and 19th-century replicas of classical statues. Yet despite all this cutting-edge luxury, the project was underpinned by a deep reverence for the city around it, including a partnership with the Torlonia Foundation, whose collection of sculptures Bulgari is helping to restore. The Bulgari Hotel Roma not only opens a new chapter in Rome’s complex history, but also looks resolutely to the future. —Liam Hess