Hotel Eden

Via Ludovisi climbs from Via Veneto towards the Pincian hill and the gardens of Villa Borghese, and near its top, at number 49, Hotel Eden has stood since 1889. The hotel takes its view from that height: the roof terrace looks over the Spanish Steps and Trinità dei Monti to the dome of St Peter's, with the whole of the centro storico laid out between.

History

Francesco Nistelweck, a hotelier from Germany, and his wife Rosa opened the Eden in 1889 in a new building on the Ludovisi estate, the aristocratic park that had just been parcelled into streets. It drew diplomats and the British and American travellers who came to Rome for the winter. In the twentieth century it became the hotel of the film industry that worked at Cinecittà and lived on Via Veneto: Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini, Federico Fellini and the actors of the Hollywood-on-the-Tiber years were regulars. The hotel passed through the Forte and Le Méridien groups before Dorchester Collection bought it in 2013. It closed in 2015 for a complete rebuild of the interior and reopened in April 2017 with fewer, larger rooms.

Architecture and design

The building is a late nineteenth-century Roman palazzo of seven floors with a stone façade and a loggia at the top. The 2015-17 renovation was designed by Bruno Moinard and Claire Bétaille of the Paris studio 4BI, who kept the plan and replaced almost everything else: pale marble, lacquered panels, bronze, silk and a palette of greys, creams and the ochres of the Roman street. The lobby is small and leads directly to the lift, and the top floor was reworked to hold both restaurants and their terraces.

Rooms and suites

The rebuild reduced the count from 121 to 98 rooms and suites, so that each could gain space and a proper marble bathroom. The suites on the upper floors have terraces over the city; the Penthouse Suite and the Bellavista Suite are the largest, with views of the dome of St Peter's and Villa Medici. Rooms on the lower floors face Via Ludovisi or the quiet inner courtyard.

Dining

La Terrazza, on the sixth floor, is the gastronomic restaurant, with one Michelin star under chef Fabio Ciervo and a dining room glazed on three sides. Il Giardino Ristorante & Bar, alongside it on the roof, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner on a terrace of lemon trees and is the place for the aperitivo at sunset. La Libreria, on the ground floor, is a lounge with a bar and a collection of books on Rome, for tea and lighter meals.

Wellness

The Eden Spa occupies the lower floor with treatment rooms, a sauna, a steam room and a fitness room. There is no pool; the hotel is a city house on a steep street. Guests run in the gardens of Villa Borghese, whose gates on the Pincio are five minutes uphill.

Weddings and events

Hotel Eden hosts private dinners, receptions and small weddings, most of them on the rooftop terraces of Il Giardino and La Terrazza, which can be reserved privately. The hotel has a salon on the ground floor for meetings and boards. It has no ballroom, and large weddings go elsewhere; the Eden's events are dinners for a few dozen guests with the city as the backdrop.

Location

The hotel stands on the Ludovisi hill in the Rione Ludovisi, between Via Veneto and the Pincio. The Spanish Steps are a seven-minute walk down the hill, Via Condotti and the shopping streets just beyond. Villa Borghese and the Galleria Borghese are a ten-minute walk; the Trevi Fountain fifteen. Barberini is the nearest metro station, on Line A, five minutes down Via Veneto. Fiumicino airport is about 40 minutes by car and Termini station ten. Among the luxury hotels in Rome, the Eden is the one with the view, and the view is the reason to stay.