Rome

Rome is a city where time does not disappear; it accumulates. Imperial ruins, Renaissance churches, Baroque piazzas and daily Roman life exist side by side, creating one of the world's richest urban palimpsests.

Rome offers grandeur without needing to announce it. Ancient fragments, papal ceremony, cinematic streets and everyday neighbourhood life create a city whose scale of history remains unmatched.

Historic Rome lies within the Aurelian Walls on the east bank of the Tiber, with Trastevere and the Vatican across the river. The ancient city centres on the Forum, the Palatine and the Colosseum; the Renaissance and Baroque city on the Campo Marzio, between the Pantheon, Piazza Navona and the Spanish Steps. Above them, the Villa Borghese gardens and the Pincio look across a skyline of domes.

The Vatican, an independent state since 1929, holds St Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums with the Sistine Chapel; the Pope’s Sunday Angelus draws crowds to St Peter’s Square. Beyond the monuments, Rome is a city of neighbourhoods — Monti, the Ghetto, Prati, Testaccio — each with its markets, trattorie and evening passeggiata.

Spring and autumn are Rome’s finest seasons. April and May bring warm days, flowering terraces and azaleas on the Spanish Steps; Easter week, with the papal ceremonies, is among the busiest of the year. September and October are golden and still warm, with the grape harvest under way in the Castelli Romani hills just south-east of the city.

July and August are hot, often above 33°C, and many Romans leave for the coast around Ferragosto in mid-August, though open-air opera at the Baths of Caracalla runs through the summer. Winter is mild and comparatively quiet, the season for museums without queues and for the Christmas market and crib displays around Piazza Navona.

Rome’s grand hotels gather around the Spanish Steps and Via Veneto. Hotel Hassler Roma, family-run for generations, stands at the top of the Steps beside Trinità dei Monti; Hotel de Russie, a Rocco Forte hotel, lies between Piazza del Popolo and the Pincio; and Hotel Eden, of the Dorchester Collection, looks over the city from near the Villa Borghese. The St. Regis Rome, opened in 1894, stands near Piazza della Repubblica, and Bulgari Hotel Roma faces the Mausoleum of Augustus.

LVXVRY books The St. Regis and Bulgari through Marriott STARS & Luminous — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges the programme attaches to the stay. For the Hassler, the de Russie and the Eden, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay, and can add private guiding at the Vatican Museums, the Forum and the churches of the historic centre.