Behind this rationalist façade from the 1940s, in Piazza Augusto Imperatore, will be the new Bvlgari Hotel in Rome
For more than 130 years, Rome has been for Bvlgari its most generous muse and its point of reference. A kind of beacon, a style guide, a way of life and a source of inspiration in its collections of jewelry and accessories. Here, on the famous Via Condotti, the first Bvlgari store opened in 1884, and even its name and logo, written in a typeface that evokes classical Latin inscriptions, reflects the sense of belonging of the firm to the city where it was born. Now, moreover, as has just been made public, the Eternal City will be the setting of the most special and spectacular hotel of the famous luxury firm.
The new hotel, which will open in 2022, will have 140 rooms and suites with unique and surprising views, even for the Romans themselves, a thousand square meter spa, the gastronomy of Michelin star chef Niko Romito Y a library dedicated to the history of jewelry which will be open and available to students from the nearby art school.
But the best is the location. will be located in Piazza Augusto Imperatore, almost on the banks of the Tiber River, just five minutes walk from the Spanish Steps and ten from Piazza Navona, and will have as illustrious square neighbors two of the city's most fascinating monuments: the Museum of Ara Paris, where the altar erected between the years 13 and 9 BC is preserved. to celebrate the victories of Emperor Augustus in Gaul and Hispania, and the Mausoleum of Augustus, from the 1st century BC C. The Mausoleum, closed to the public for decades, will reopen its doors to visitors more or less when the hotel does.
The opening of the hotel will not only recover one of the most notable examples of rationalist architecture in the city, but also It will bring life back to a beautiful square that lately showed an aspect of abandonment.
But so that the wait is not so long, Bvlgari has also just announced its participation in the improvement of the lighting system of the Ara Paris with the donation of 120,000 euros of the 200,000 needed for the project. The new lighting, which is intended to do justice to the beauty of the monument, It will go into operation at the end of this year.
It is not the first time that Bvlgari has acted mezenas in the recovery of the heritage of the city. Last year he sponsored the restoration of pieces from the Torlonia family collection, considered the most important private collection of ancient art in the world, in 2016, that of the mosaics of the Baths of Caracalla –Which served as inspiration for his Diva collection– and in 2015 he invested 1.5 million euros in the reform of the famous travertine marble staircase rising from the piazza de Espana towards the church of Trinita dei Monti.
Aspect that the facade of the new Bvlgari Hotel in Rome will have
Since the Bvlgari Group began its collection of hotels and resorts 18 years ago – they currently have six properties around the world, with another four due to open in the coming years – Silvio Ursini, executive vice president of the firm, he had dreamed of opening a hotel in Rome. But as usual, the really good things are long in coming. “Rome is a beautiful city, but also very complicated. The buildings are old and there are hardly any new constructions. Finding the perfect building to open our hotel has been difficult. Whenever we saw something we liked, it always had some complication, old frescoes or architectural limitations that made it impossible to turn it into a hotel. The truth is that the search for the perfect site has been quite frustrating, but now that we have the perfect place, I don't regret having said no to other opportunities that, a priori, seemed good”.
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And the fact is that the chosen building is, according to Ursini, simply perfect: “Perfect in location, in size, in views, in presence… It's not really that big, but it looks like it, because it's quite long and has an imposing presence. It is a magnificent building. Luxury always needs that something that makes it special and this building has it. He has personality and charisma.” This special building was designed in the 1930s by the architect Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo in the rationalist style, very contemporary for those years, but with clear references to the past. This look to the past is evident in the use of travertine marble (the one used in ancient Rome), in the columns of the spectacular portico, in a mosaic recounting the origins of Rome or in the inscription in low relief on the façade, which functions as a kind of mirror that reflects the inscription of the monument that is just opposite, the Ara Pacis. “Without having done anything, the building has a soul and fits perfectly with our design, since its aesthetics are very clean: high ceilings, many and very beautiful windows, spectacular terraces on the roof, a beautiful roof… It is simply perfect”, acknowledges Ursini proud of the find.
Silvio Ursini, Executive Vice President of Bvlgari, in front of the facade of the new hotel in Rome
The architects Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel They will be once again, as usual in all the firm's accommodations, in charge of transforming the building into a hotel and designing its interior design, furniture included. On this occasion, the use of marble will have a prominent role and will serve to connect the architecture with the jewels of the firm: “In addition to the travertine marble of the façade and certain details, which is cream-colored and comes from the city of Tivoli, near Rome, we will use marbles of different colors (red, yellow, green…) in specific places to evoke our traditional use of colored gemstones (rubies, emeralds, sapphires…) in jewelry”.
Despite being a building with a high level of protection, Citterio and Viel will not find great challenges to overcome, as Urcini tells us, given the good condition of the property: "For example, the bronze chandeliers on the porch, which are really amazing, they have been there for almost seventy years and are preserved in perfect condition, you just have to clean them”.
Ursini is confident that when he opens the hotel, security measures against the COVID-19 pandemic will be a thing of the past, but he admits that they will be prepared. “We are lucky because in luxury hotels like ours, the cleaning and privacy guarantee protocols are so generous in themselves that it has only been necessary to make an extra effort. It's just about being flexible and maximizing the safety of our guests and employees. Bvlgari Milan reopened three weeks ago and some of the implementations we've done there are really interesting. For example, the restaurant menu is printed on a totally ecological throwaway paper and in the rooms we have a special device that, after cleaning, sanitizes the spaces even more”.
For Ursini, the main attractions of the new Bvlgari in Rome will be, apart from the recovery of the charismatic building, “the views of the square, which most of the rooms will look at, which are amazing; the terraces on the fourth floor, which is where the bar and restaurant will be; and the roof terrace, which is going to be recovered in its entire surface for the use and enjoyment of our guests and from which there are 360º views of the entire city”. Panoramic views that will offer a new perspective of Rome even for the great connoisseurs of the city. “Until now we only had partial views, depending on which river bank you are on, but the new Bvlgari Rome is right in the middle and the perspective is unique.” from up there, the gaze is lost in the seven hills of the city and in the vaults of the main monuments: "The Basilica of Saint Peter, the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, the church of Trinità dei Monti, the Parthenon, the river... You can spend days contemplating the views and identifying the monuments," he lists the executive vice president of Bvlgari.