Bulgari Hotel Roma

Piazza Augusto Imperatore was laid out in the late 1930s around the Mausoleum of Augustus, and the long travertine and brick block on its eastern side was designed by Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo as part of that scheme. For decades it housed offices. In June 2023 it reopened as Bulgari Hotel Roma, the Roman jeweller's first hotel in its home city, with the mausoleum in front of it and the Ara Pacis a few steps to the west, towards the Tiber.

History

Bulgari was founded in Rome in 1884 by the Greek silversmith Sotirio Bulgari, and its flagship shop has stood on Via Condotti since 1905. The hotel brand came much later. Bulgari Hotels & Resorts opened its first house in Milan in 2004, then Bali, London, Beijing, Dubai, Shanghai, Paris and Tokyo. Rome was announced as the next and treated as the homecoming. The company took the Morpurgo building, completed in 1938 as an office block, and converted it over several years. The opening took place on 9 June 2023.

The piazza itself had been cleared and rebuilt in the same decade as the building, when the houses pressed around the mausoleum were demolished to expose the tomb of the first emperor. The mausoleum reopened to visitors in 2021 after a long restoration, so the hotel's guests look out on a monument that was closed for most of living memory.

Architecture and design

Morpurgo's facade is a rationalist composition of travertine, brick and tall arcades, with inscriptions and reliefs of the period on the upper storeys. The conversion kept the exterior and the arcaded ground floor. Inside, the interiors are by Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, the Milan practice that has designed every Bulgari hotel since the first. Their palette here draws on Roman materials: travertine, green and red marbles, bronze, dark wood and silk. Bulgari's own archive supplies the motifs, including the star pattern of the Divas' Dream jewels.

A rooftop terrace faces the mausoleum and the dome of St Peter's beyond. The ground floor opens onto the arcade with the cafe and the Bulgari Bar, and a jewellery boutique sits at the corner, as in every house of the brand.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 114 rooms and suites. Standard rooms are generous by Roman standards, with marble bathrooms, walk-in wardrobes and the brand's heavy curtains and lacquered joinery. Many face the piazza and the mausoleum; others look onto the side streets or the internal courtyard. The largest is the Bulgari Suite on the top floor.

Dining

Il Ristorante Niko Romito serves the Abruzzese chef's Italian menu, as in the group's Milan, Beijing, Dubai, Shanghai, Paris and Tokyo houses. The Bulgari Bar on the ground floor mixes the group's signature cocktails and draws a Roman crowd in the evening. The cafe under the arcade works for breakfast, pastries and lighter lunches. The roof terrace opens in the warm months for drinks and dinner with the mausoleum below.

Wellness

The Bulgari Spa occupies the lower floors with a 20-metre indoor pool lined in mosaic, a design that takes its cue from the Baths of Caracalla. There are treatment rooms, a hammam, a sauna and a gym.

Weddings and events

The hotel has a ballroom and smaller function rooms, and the roof terrace is used for receptions when the weather allows. Weddings and corporate events are hosted; capacities depend on the layout and are confirmed by the hotel.

Location

The hotel stands in the Campo Marzio district, in the centre of Rome. Via Condotti and the Spanish Steps are ten minutes on foot to the east, Piazza del Popolo to the north, the Pantheon to the south. The Ara Pacis museum by Richard Meier is on the far side of the piazza. Rome Fiumicino is about 40 minutes by car; the nearest metro is Spagna on line A. For a luxury hotel in Rome it is unusually central and unusually quiet, since the piazza carries little traffic.