Residenza Napoleone III

There’s pedigree and then there’s pedigree. This hotel is housed in a palace owned by a princess, and it’s named after one of its most famous guests, Napoleon III, who lived here in 1830. None of which would matter all that much if Residenza Napoleone III weren’t still a deeply pleasurable place to stay, as unapologetically opulent, one has to imagine, as the day the emperor checked in. That the hotel is located right off Via Condotti, an easy walk from Rome’s best high-end shopping and many of its major sights, is almost beside the point; Residenza Napoleone III is a destination unto itself, and staying there a singular experience (as it ought to be, given its singular price point).

Actually, there are two experiences on offer — that of living like an emperor, in the Napoleon suite, and that of staying in the quirky guest apartment of a latter-day royal family, in the Garden suite. Either way, to get there you pass through a pair of massive wooden doors, walk through an arcade lined with Doric columns, and climb a staircase stacked with antique marble busts. Needless to say there are attendants to take care of the luggage. If you’re staying in the Napoleon suite, you’ll be surrounded by enormous oil paintings, 16th-century tapestries and hand-stenciled walls, your bed covered in Italian linens and velvet pillows and surrounded by silk drapes. The marble bathroom is stocked with Bulgari toiletries. Breakfast is served en-suite with proper silver. As for the plasma screens, the plumbing, the air conditioning, the Bose sound system — yes, it all works just fine, because while the fantasy is fun, no one really wants to live exactly like a 19th-century emperor.

In the Roof Garden suite, the opulence is slightly less extravagant, the fittings relatively contemporary. A quirky layout — spiral stairs to reach the entrance, stairs down to the little nook of a bedroom, stairs even farther down to the tiny bathroom — acts as a reminder that this is indeed a converted old palace, not a purpose-built hotel. It’s a slight compromise compared to the every-comfort-accounted-for Napoleon suite, but that’s a very high bar. The payoff for these (trifling) inconveniences comes in the form of a spectacular, multi-level terrace, bursting with herbs in terra-cotta pots and overlooking the roofs of the Eternal City. There’s any number of vantage points for admiring the city’s landmarks. It’s possible to get closer, at street level, but that’s awfully far away.

• 2 Rooms
• Style: Traditional Elegance
• Atmosphere: Lively

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