Both are in Campo Marzio with a pool and a spa. ROMEO Roma, the cheaper of the two, keeps them for hotel guests, for architecture and quiet stays; Bvlgari Hotel Roma, from about 2,000 euros, shares its 20 metre pool and spa with paying members, for serious spa days.
The design oneA listed 16th-century palazzo relined by Zaha Hadid Architects, with a pool that runs out into the garden on a glass floor above a Roman workshop.
€€€€From about €1,015 a night
Choose ROMEO Roma if
The catch
Il Ristorante opens Tuesday to Saturday for dinner only and La Terrazza Thursday to Sunday, so a Monday or Wednesday arrival gets one or neither.
The grand oneBvlgari's name on a 1930s rationalist block facing the Mausoleum of Augustus, managed by Marriott and built around a 20 metre mosaic pool under eight marble columns.
€€€€From about €2,000 a night
Choose Bvlgari Hotel Roma if
The catch
January and February open near 2,000 euros a night for the 33 square metre entry room, and May and August pass 2,700.
| Best for | ROMEO Roma | Bvlgari Hotel Roma |
|---|---|---|
| Best design hotels in Rome | On the list | On the list |
| Best spa hotels in Rome | On the list | On the list |
| Best central hotels in Rome | On the list | On the list |
| Best quiet hotels in Rome | On the list | Not on the list |
| Best hotels for food and drink in Rome | On the list | On the list |
ROMEO RomaBvlgari Hotel Roma
ROMEO Roma
Bvlgari Hotel Roma
The verdict
Both are in Campo Marzio with a pool and a spa. ROMEO Roma, the cheaper of the two, keeps them for hotel guests, for architecture and quiet stays; Bvlgari Hotel Roma, from about 2,000 euros, shares its 20 metre pool and spa with paying members, for serious spa days.
Questions people ask
Both are in Campo Marzio with a pool and a spa. ROMEO Roma, the cheaper of the two, keeps them for hotel guests, for architecture and quiet stays; Bvlgari Hotel Roma, from about 2,000 euros, shares its 20 metre pool and spa with paying members, for serious spa days.
Book ROMEO Roma for the building: a listed palazzo relined in ebony and marble by Zaha Hadid Architects, with a Roman workshop under the pool and restored painted ceilings in five suites. Come for the architecture and the quiet rather than a scene, and time the arrival around the restaurant days. Design is the entire argument and the price says so: 74 rooms inside a listed palazzo, relined in ebony and marble, with a Sisley Paris spa and a pool that ends on glass above Roman ruins. It is deliberately quiet, and the bars, the garden restaurant, the spa and the pool are for guests only, save a public aperitivo on the roof on Thursdays and Sundays, so the buzz has to come from outside.
It has indoor and outdoor pools. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.
Book it for the natatio and the spa above all, and for a building that says exactly what it is. Rome has older and warmer hotels for less money; this one is for a guest who wants the pool, the marble and the address, and will pay for them. Rates that start near 2,000 euros a night, in a contemporary interior behind a 1930s facade, run with almost no rough edges and photographed constantly. The spa and its mosaic pool are the reason to be here, not the patina you get in an older Roman hotel.
It has an indoor pool. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.