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Whenever I read about ancient Rome (or watch a film set in that era), I can’t help but be fascinated by the empire's decadence and the lavish lifestyles its rulers and court enjoyed: superabundant banquets, opulent décor, splendid jewellery, intricate hairstyles, luxurious ablutions… And I felt like Augustus himself when I took a bath in my suite at the newly opened Bulgari Hotel in Rome. Wide and deep and hewn from yellow marble, the tub felt so self-indulgent that I had to treat myself to a glass of red wine once submerged.
The bathrooms are the main event at the Bulgari hotel; yellow Brocatelle from the Middle East, red jasper from Sudan, green quartzite and Taj Mahal-white marble from Brazil set the tone for each room – in more ways than one. The fabrics upholstering the furniture and bed heads, even the ‘Arco’ lamps from Flos, take their cues from the stones’ hues. Regarding the latter, the lamps’ bases were originally white Carrara marble (a 1962 Achille Castiglioni conception) and were only recently recreated in coordinated coloured stone (the original designer’s foundation having granted assent for the switch for the first time). Add silk rugs by Altai, upholstered items by B&B Italia, tables by Mangiarotti for Agape Casa and Fontana Arte lamps, and the result is a quintessentially Italian take on contemporary chic.
The décor of the rooms marries well with the imposing style of the building that houses them, an exquisite example of late 1930s rationalist architecture from the drawing board of Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo. The dramatic pillars in Roman travertine form a monumental portico enclosing an outdoor restaurant alive with tropical plants. The façade is impressive too, embellished with mosaics by Ferruccio Ferrazzi and Antonio Barrera, and frescos by Giulio Rosso.
Naturally, the hotel is in a historic location, with strong symbolic value: it faces the circular first-century BC Mausoleum of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, and the Ara Pacis, the altar that celebrates the Pax Romana – the period of peace imposed by the authorities – preserved within the museum of the same name designed by Richard Meier. It is therefore fitting to be welcomed into the hotel’s entrance vestibule by a seated emperor – Augustus himself – in the form of an original Roman sculpture.
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The overall design concept was given to Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, who channelled a ‘quest for beauty’ when thinking about the revamp of such a striking building. The design deploys a variety of tastes, origins and stories, but its polychromatic craftsmanship and techniques are typical of the Augustan era. The aesthetic rigour of the stone used in imperial Rome and the sober architectural style of the building are offset by the use of rich textures.
Venetian terrazzo floors abound (even in the lifts), as do handcrafted marble mosaic roundels, heavy custom-made fabrics, marmorino plasters and Murano glass. Dotted throughout, too, are original Giò Ponti vases from the 1930s for Ginori 1735. I recognised the bookshelves in the library as an original 1956 design by Albini for Cassina.
In the spa, the 20-metre-long pool is decorated with sparkling mosaics by Bisazza, following motifs used in the baths of Caracalla. Here, the niches contain two rare 19th-century terracotta statues representing allegories of beauty and of silence. Ultimately, though, it’s the bathrooms I’d come back for. As Augustus said of Rome: ‘I found a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.’ What an achievement that was.
