The hotellerie's Golden Age in the Eternal City

The private "new renaissance" for Rome: by 2024 the capital will be the European city with the highest number of open luxury hotels

Rome is undergoing a renovation and will change its face in the next three years, making a big leap in the tourism & hospitality sector, but not only.

After the openings that already took place in 2021-22 in the hotellerie (including the openings of Hotel Hoxton, Hotel W Rome, Hotel Mama Shelter and Soho House), there is strong anticipation for those scheduled for the two-year period 2023-2024. Major projects underway, which will lead the capital to be classified as the European city with the highest number of new luxury hotels open.

Not only the hospitality sector, but more generally the entire private sector will undergo major innovations: it is worth mentioning the opening of the prestigious private Bocconi University in Milan, which will also have its first location in Rome. In September 2022, in fact, the business school of the well-known Lombard university will open the Capitoline headquarters in via Antonio Nibby, between Nomentana and Villa Torlonia (in spaces equal to 2,700 square meters totally renovated).

The catering sector will also be involved (rumors speak of Briatore's collaboration with the Bernini Bristol Hotel, which in turn has been renovated) and entertainment, with the reopening of the Cinema Fiamma (premiere of Dolce Vita and many other film of the golden age, place of the heart and symbolic for many Romans).

The highly anticipated Ryder Cup, the prestigious golf competition scheduled in Rome for 2023 (already 250,000 tickets sold) will contribute to this development. Councilor Alessandro Onorato confirmed that the expected arrival of the participants in the capital will lead to greater development of luxury facilities, which currently have 1,600 5-star beds (not enough for the size, extension and potential of the city) . “In three years we will move to 6,000 beds in the luxury segment and will therefore approach the levels of other European cities such as Paris and London. I would add that when 5-star luxury arrives in a city, the districts change and the whole territory is involved. Rome will return to the splendor of the past”, confirms the commissioner.

Not least to shed light on the Italian capital is the candidacy for Expo 2030, in which the city will have the opportunity to play a key role on a global level and to show its capacity for resilience.

Rome in pole position in the hospitality sector: the openings of luxury structures

The openings will follow one another for various luxury structures and 5-star hotels, including: the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (which will open in Rome at Palazzo Marini), the Mandarin Oriental, owned by the Jardine Matheson Group, which will third Italian location after Milan and Lake Como, probably in the Villini Sallustiani, in a secular park.

The Bulgari Edition of Marriott International will instead open in the heart of the Campo Marzio district, near Trinità dei Monti, Vico del Corso and near the prestigious Capitoline boutique on Via dei Condotti. All in the setting of a sumptuous modernist building from the 1930s, overlooking the Ara Pacis and the Mausoleum of Augustus. The hotel will host 100 rooms and suites, but Il Ristorante - Niko Romito and Il Bulgari Bar will not be missing.

The Six Senses, redesigned by Patricia Urquiola, complete with a botanical garden inside and wellness environments inspired by Roman baths, will be placed in the center of ancient Rome. In fact, it is located a few blocks from the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon, also giving the possibility to walk to the elegant luxury shopping streets, from Via Condotti, Frattina to Borgognona. In the Palazzo you will find 95 luxurious rooms and suites, an exclusive spa, a restaurant, a splendid courtyard with an open garden and a panoramic terrace that will offer a 360° view of the Eternal City.

The Nobu Hotel and Restaurant Rome is part of a project that involves the transformation of the famous property in Via Veneto. It will be strategically located a few steps from the most iconic places in the city: the Villa Borghese Park, Piazza Barberini, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.

The historic Hotel de la Minerve, in Piazza della Minerva (Pantheon area) will reopen in 2023 under the Orient Express brand, of the French group Accor. At the Fori Imperiali, the Italian hotel company LHM, an Italian hotel management company, has been awarded the management of Palazzo al Velabro, under the banner of the Design Hotels brand by Marriott International. There are 28 large apartments equipped with kitchens, 5 ultra-luxury rooms, reception, and then meeting room, cinema, dehors on the terrace, bar, restaurant.

After various rumors, the Rome Edition Hotel arrives in the historic center of the capital, a structure designed to offer an unforgettable stay. The hotel will be housed in a historic building designed by Cesare Pascoletti in collaboration with Marcello Piacentini (one of the most famous architects of Italian Rationalism at the beginning of the 20th century) and will consist of 95 rooms and suites, including a Penthouse, and a terrace private. Inside you will also find a gourmet restaurant with outdoor space; a Punch Room Bar and a 120m2 rooftop. In addition to customizable indoor and outdoor event spaces, the hotel will also feature a rooftop pool, hi-tech gym, and two treatment rooms, including a couples massage experience.

Among the luxury structures also the Rosewood Hotel, which will transform the BNL headquarters: the transformation of the complex into a 5-star hotel will be managed by the real estate company Colliers International and signed by the Jacobs architecture and engineering studio and Bar Studio interior design . The hotel will acquire the Rosewood Rome sign. It will extend over an entire block and include three early 20th century buildings. The flagship of the project will be the redevelopment of the former Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, a building designed by the architect and urban planner Marcello Piacentini. Already author of the Palace of Justice in Milan, of via Roma in Turin and of the via della Dolce Vita capitolina, but in the Thirties.

The design will respect Piacentini's legacy and the original modernist language, mixing traditional architectural elements with modern decorations and details.

Rosewood Rome will have 157 rooms, including 44 suites. Among the hotel services: three restaurants, including an Italian bistro, two bars and a café. As for the Mice, the offer is three meeting rooms and a large plenary. The gem of the offer will be the spaces dedicated to wellness. Modern Roman baths will be built in the bank vault, while a spa with a mirrored pool will be built on the roof.

Last but not least, it is necessary to mention Palazzo Marini: a large building of thousands of square meters overlooking Piazza San Silvestro, former property of the real estate developer Sergio Scarpellini, in an almost unique strategic position (a stone's throw from the Trevi Fountain, Piazza di Spagna, Via Condotti and pedestrian distance also from Piazza Navona and Via Veneto). For some time there have been rumors that Four Seasons, the Canadian chain of super-luxury hotels owned by Bill Gates and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, is ready to land here.

The expected repercussions will not only be positive for the recovery of movement in the tourism sector, but also for the job market in the hotel sector: around 4,000 more places, these are the forecasts also confirmed by the CBRE Outlook 2022. Prospects therefore positive, even if according to experts, the real recovery from this point of view will be effective in 2024.

© L.V.