Living in Rome like an Imperatore at Bvlgari’s latest jewel

In the very heart of Rome since June 2023 lives a city within a city where the antique opulence of the ancient imperial capital seems to be reborn. The building hosting Bvlgari’s latest and most important hospitality gem, a 1936 rationalist building by architect Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo — recently “unearthed” by celebrated designers Antonio Citterio and Patricia Veil — is a world of intricate layers of both history and italianate design. It ascends from a marble underworld where an intimate spa à l’antique develops (think hand-crafted gold mosaic showers, Etruscan statues and massive, pool-plunging crenelated columns) to the earthy quality of its red-bricks roof terraces sprawling on two floors, deliciously reminiscent of Jep Gambardella’s party-pad in La Grande Bellezza. Unsurprisingly, it appears that two nights are just barely enough to discover this 14,000m² kingdom, almost covering a whole city block. It sits indeed like a quiet and magnificent ship in the city’s busy centre, and yet also faces one of the most tranquil, silent and otherworldly monument one can find in Rome; Augustus’ Mausoleum.

Little can prepare to the sense of wonder one gets when laying eyes on Rome’s first emperor’s solemn tomb. And yet this sensation never fades. I have been experiencing this sprawling ruin, covered with tall cypress trees, with the same, almost mystical quality whenever I had the chance to be in Rome (and when the Morpurgo building was still a sleeping beauty in a state of abandon). Bvlgari now offers the furthermore extraterrestrial experience to stand and gaze at this utmost roman view from what has become perhaps the most luscious and thought-after terrazza in the city, where you can sunbath in the morning as I did on this glorious autumn getaway or be pampered with Niko Romito’s kitchen and flowing Ruinart in the evening. On my first night, however, things got a little better than “just” champagne. I was indeed whisked shortly after my arrival to the building’s highest point to attend Bvlgari Symposia, an invitation from the hotelier for Handshake Speakeasy — currently named best bar in the world — to host a special night around their infamous cocktails coming all the way from from Mexico City. How sweet then was the night, travelling between dreams and reality and from Paris to both antique and modern Rome… then Mexico, all the while looking at one the most ancient cityscapes in the world.

Beware aesthetes! If you’re prone to frequent Stendhal syndromes, you might easily get struck as you enter the building through a made-to-measure circular room of mineral quality, focused around the striking representation of Augustus himself in a triumphal pose, looking directly at his own now more than 2,000 years old mausoleum. This full-body marble, coming straight from the prestigious Torlonia collection (the rest of it is currently on show at the Louvre until January 2025) has been painstakingly restored with the help of Bvlgari’s very own Fondazione and amongst other jewels of roman heritage.

This astonishing piece of history constitutes the first step towards the truly unlimited world of wonder that is the Bvlgari Roma, a masterwork of hospitality made of the rarest marbleswe’re in Rome after all) in symbiosis with the extremely soft, velvety feels of the rooms and suites (think cashmere curtains, scented white sheets, light wooden floor and, for every bathroom, a custom-made tiled mosaic crowning the bathtub…) Every room here is its own little empire, with everything made easy to understand, use and access, the art of the hotel room being definitely mastered con gusto. Breakfasts, casual lunches, teas and dinners can be enjoyed in the downstairs [Il] Caffè and under the travertine colonnades or upstairs in the upscale restaurant, but were personally enjoyed in-room, where the terrace was incongruously where I spend the most time — a beautiful square, palm tree-lined terrace fitted with sofas and beautiful lighting where I could have assuredly stayed indefinitely with a glass of wine and cigars, if it wasn’t for Rome calling so hard at my footstep. I allowed myself seldom escapes from this oneiric citadel indeed — one was an attempt to look for sun screen at the closest farmacia as the temperatures were reaching an astonishing 30° Celsius in the morning, the other constituted a comeback to the pure, ethereal Ara Pacis that I had visited years prior, an altar built to the glory of Augustus in 9 BC and sheltered by the delicate, white architecture of American architect Richard Meier (in fact so transparent that the Bvlgari terraces left just minutes ago could be seen from within the ruin itself).

Outside, my steps also eventually lead me to the historical via Condotti, where Bvlgari has been holding fort at nº10 a remarkable 140 years. Back at the hotel, I recognise the boutique’s distinctive facade in the pictures lining the walls. They speak of the Dolce Vita’s heydays that Bvlgari very much helped shaping and now is preserving. Stemming from the brand’s own expansive archives, they dreamingly display the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Anita Ekberg or the timeless Sophia Loren all converging to this same central point of both roman and jewellery history that is Bvlgari.

A significant chapter of Bvlgari’s history is finally being written with the opening of this grand roman building. The brand’s long-expected hospitality outpost in the city that has seen it rise from a late 19th century jewellery shop to a world icon synonymous with the city, its architecture as well as its brightest movie stars has indeed found a more-than-suitable home to express its values with. Bvlgari has always reflected Rome’s beauty through its elaborate and hypnotic jewels, and assuredly no other brand feels more roman than Bvlgari does. Its history is so tightly linked to the eternal city that they both inevitably and constantly merge, one unable to be separated from the other. This promise of faith is now being sealed in eternity and in the precious marble of this true flagship building, already an icon of hospitality in the city’s stimulating landscape. Both the city and the hotel’s endless layers are now calling for succinct and hedonistic discovery and will appeal for certain to all aesthetes and above all to Rome lovers.