Spanish Steps – 500 meters
Via Condotti (designer shopping) – 500 meters
Pantheon - 1 kilometer (0.5 miles)
Trevi Fountain - 1.5 kilometers (1 mile)
Piazza Navona - 1.5 kilometers (1 mile)
Termini Station - 1.5 kilometers (1 mile)
Galleria Borghese – 1.5 kilometer (1 mile)
Capitoline Hill and Museums - 2 kilometers (1.5 miles)
The Vatican - 2 kilometer (1.5 miles)
Roman Forum - 3 kilometer (2 miles)
Colisseum – 3.5 kilometer (2 miles)
Palatine Hill - 3.5 kilometer (2 miles)

Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO): Approximate driving time is 45 minutes and distance is 26 kilometers (15 miles).

The Leonardo Express train connects Fiumicino Airport, also known as Leonardo da Vinci Airport, with Termini Station. Taxis are also available.

ATAC, the public transport system, operates buses, trams, subway (Metropolitana) and suburban railways. The Metro station closest to the hotel is Piazza di Spagna. There is also a wide choice of buses. The hotel can order taxis on request.

This hotel has 200 individually decorated rooms, all of which feature high ceilings, four-feet high, opening windows, brass Art Deco bedsteads with Italian linen sheets, oriental rugs, silk-upholstered sofas or armchairs and black-and-white lithographs of Rome’s historic sites. The spacious bathrooms have black, white and gray marble walls and floors. All feature telephones, Sorette Fontana toiletries, two-person tubs or power shower stalls. Rooms overlook the baroque San Carlo church, internal courtyard or the pedestrianised shopping street of Via Condotti.

Bar Bistro Mascagni - The mahogany-paneled walls and bar, frescoed ceiling, candelabras, gold-leaf cornices, tapestry wall hangings and plush red velvet chairs offer a suitably grand setting to sample the hotel’s trademark cocktail, La Dolce Vita. Alcoholic drinks, juices, teas and coffees and bar snacks are served 12pm-3pm and 7.30pm-11pm.

Mascagni Room - Frescoes on the ceiling of 18th-century ball scenes, gold-stucco ceilings and red velvet and mahogany chairs decorate the ornate breakfast room, adjacent to the Bar Bistro Mascagni, where an American buffet breakfast is served each morning. The Mascagni Room seats 180 and is used for pre-booked functions in the evening.

What to expect: A revolving mahogany door leads from Rome’s main street, the bustling Via del Corso, into a high-ceilinged marble-floored, walnut-paneled lobby. Formerly a royal convent, it became a hotel in 1860 at the time of Italian unification and has been frequented by popes, princesses and ambassadors ever since.

Amenity highlights: The gold stuccoed Salone delle Feste is the largest of the eight conference rooms where embassies and companies such as Microsoft and Versace often host receptions. The Lemon Terrace lines one side of the hotel offering panoramic views over the Via Condotti (designer shopping heaven). Bar Bistro Mascagni, the mahogany-panelled cocktail bar, is named after the famous eponymous Italian composer who died in the hotel.

Insider tip: The hotel was the location for Zefferelli’s film Tea with Mussolini, in which it was described it as ‘the finest hotel in Europe’. It also features in a number of Visconti’s films. You can’t miss the life-sized, marble Lion of Babylon at the foot of the grand marble staircase – it may look scary but it has been a symbol of welcome for 140 years.

The Salone delle Feste, jewel in the crown of this Art Deco hotel, is a ballroom/banqueting/conference room that can seat 300 for dinner or 400 for a cocktail reception. Pairs of ochre-colored Doric columns hold up the Art Nouveau glass ceiling surrounded by ornate gold stucco cornices. It is lined by a marble-walled cloister and decorated with antique furniture – gilt mirrors, marble-topped tables and meter high chandeliers. Three other conference rooms – the Red Room, Yellow Room and Green Room - lead off from the Salone delle Feste with capacity ranging from 20 to 70. Finally, there are two other conference rooms on the first floor and a business center off the lobby with a fax machine and computer terminal offering ADSL Internet access.

Guests have use in summer of the Lemon Terrace which runs entire length of the hotel, overlooking the rooftops and the Via Condotti. The walnut-paneled lobby consists of three very high-ceilinged intersecting rooms. All have patterned marble floors, clusters of red velvet antique chairs and leather topped antique desks.