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ROME HOTEL D’INGHILTERRA
I am not an expert in bathroom floors, but this one was a delight – a geometric pattern in marble, of the sort you might expect in the sacristy of a baroque church. The bathroom itself was modest in size, but could boast a bidet, as well as the usual basin, tub and loo.
The evening was chilly when I dined at the Café Romano, so the first part of my repast was outside and then I retreated to the warmth of the brightly-lit interior. Chef Rodolfo Chieroni offers straightforward food, carefully cooked. I began with a well-balanced dish of smoked goose breast with caramelized peaches and balsamic vinegar. My pasta was fusilli, with smoked bacon, porcini mushrooms and parmesan. Undoubtedly, the highlight of my meal was a handsome piece of beef fillet, cooked rare and served with roast potatoes and fried onions. Lime parfait with fruit concluded this enjoyable dinner (82ε).
The following morning I went to the 10.00 a.m. High Mass – according to the Old Rite – at the Church of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, near the Ponte Sisto. Here, amidst the ancient ceremonial and clouds of incense, I took part in the ritual which would have been so familiar to Pope Pius IX. Then I returned to the place which, happily, we now also have in common: the Hotel d’Inghilterra.
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HOTEL D’INGHILTERRA
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© Francis Bown 2003
What do I have in common with Pius IX? Very little, other than membership of the Church, I had thought. After all, he was the Pope who included democracy in his Syllabus Errorum – and, whatever misgivings I might have about the rule of the mob, I have to acknowledge that democracy, far from being an ‘Error’, is the least worst form of government yet devised by mankind. But now Pius and I do share this: we have both been visitors to one of Rome’s most charming hotels. His visit is recorded on a stone tablet by the entrance. It seems that the King of Portugal, on a State Visit to the Holy See in 1855, fell ill, thereby requiring the Pontiff to leave the Vatican and visit the Monarch at his lodgings. So I have something in common with the King of Portugal, too: we have both stayed at the splendid Hotel d’Inghilterra.
Location is important in Rome, and that enjoyed by the Hotel d’Inghilterra could hardly be better: a few yards from the Spanish Steps and from the surrounding designer boutiques and yet enjoying the quietness of a pretty side street. The building was originally the guest house of the impressive Palazzo Torlonia, on the other side of the street. Indeed, the hotel uses three of the grandest chambers on the palazzo’s piano nobile as its function rooms. It has been an hotel since 1845, first taking the name d’Angleterre (which still appears on the main façade) and then changing to the Italian version, d’Inghilterra. Given its status and position, it is hardly surprising that many well-known persons – apart from the Pope and myself – have passed through its portal. Its guest book records the names of Mark Twain, Gore Vidal, Gregory Peck, the Duke of Edinburgh and numerous others of the great and the good.
With 89 rooms, the hotel is not large, but it is sumptuously decked out, as every visitor must realize as soon as he or she steps over the threshold. The three sitting rooms on the ground floor set the tone: intimate, stylish, with bold colours, fine paintings and good antique furniture. The gentlemen who man the Reception desk wear tail-coats, which is only right, after all, in an establishment like this, and they proved helpful to me throughout my stay. There is a surfeit of things to do in the Eternal City, so I like to rely on the knowledge of the local experts to find the less popular gems – like the former home and studio of the Metaphysical painter, Giorgio di Chirico, round the corner from the hotel in the Piazza di Spagna. It is just as it was when he died in 1978, and is full of his canvases. (You need to book a tour in advance.)
Rooms at the hotel come in all shapes and sizes, so I suggest that you go for one of the higher categories of accommodation. If funds permit, you might like to try the penthouse suite. You will need 3,800ε a night, but you will have the benefit of its enormous terrace (pictured), overlooking the roofs of Rome. I was billeted at the level of Junior Suite (650ε a night for two, breakfast extra), which I can thoroughly recommend. I tried first one on the fourth floor. This whole floor has been kitted out recently in a stylish Italian manner. All the rooms here have sophisticated lighting systems – too sophisticated, alas! for the technological illiterate who is your correspondent, so I moved to the third floor and room 386.
This was just the sort of comfortably traditional accommodation I like in Rome. Within its walls, covered with discreet gold damask, were pieces of ancient mahogany furniture, two easy chairs and several pleasing table lamps. In the afternoons, if I flung wide the curtains of heavy brocade, opened the windows and pushed back the wooden shutters, the melodies of the piano-accordionist drifted up from the street-corner below and accompanied my post-luncheon doze.
Eating at the Hotel d’Inghilterra is done in the Café Romano on the ground floor. Here I came for breakfast (28ε) each morning. Or rather, I went to one of its outside tables on the Via Borgogna, opposite the Fendi emporium. The friendly waiters (a credit to the maitre d’ Aurelio Ottavio de Luca) brought to me my requested spremuta d’arancia (freshly-squeezed orange juice) and pots of good coffee, and I secured from the buffet plates of really tasty bacon, with scrambled egg, and dishes of melon and pineapple. There were many other temptations on the buffet, but in Rome I like to leave room for a substantial dinner.
Brief and to the point, the wine list offers around 70 choices, with prices ranging from 26ε for a white from the Marche to 320ε for Sassicaia of the 2005 vintage. I was pleased to see that the grape varieties were given for each wine and that the glasses were of high quality (by Spiegelau). After a taste of pinot grigio of rasping dryness (Zuccole, Puiatti, 2007 - 8ε, glass), I went for that highly regarded red from Tuscany, Tignanello. Its 2005 vintage – keenly priced at 90ε – is still too young, but the sangiovese grape is famously soft and accessible and I really did like the luscious black fruit of this bottle, particularly with the beef.