Palazzo delle Pietre

Style

Style set in stone

Setting

Steeped in the Centro Storico

Before Carlo Mazzi and his family showed up, 15th-century Palazzo delle Pietre, in central-as-can-be Rome, was a victim of heinous style crimes: frescos wallpapered over, painted beams behind false ceilings… The Mazzi’s played both archaeologists and future-proofers, restoring porticos, epigraphs, cosmatesque tiles and more, and crafting eight apartments, using both Carlo’s masonry collection dating back to antiquity – for which the stay is named – and furnishings from Rome’s modern makers. They’re a joyful past-present melee of statuary, friezes, marbles with psychedelic striations and colourful statement pieces, along with a gracious concierge, hammam, and private cultural club with the aim of sharing and safeguarding Roman culture; and, we surmise, ensuring not one Corinthian column, gilded cherub or Latin fragment gets again persecuted by poor taste.

Facilities

Rooms

10 luxurious apartments.

Checkout

12 noon. Earliest check-in, 2pm.

More Details

Rates include a light breakfast basket filled with fresh bread and croissants, and your apartment’s fridge comes stocked with eggs, milk, butter, bacon and yoghurt. There’s a minimum two-night stay, three nights in some seasons.

Also

The aparthotel’s name means ‘Palace of Stone’, so-called because of the impressive collection of decorative masonry Carlo Mazzi has amassed, a lot inherited from his great-great grandfather, and much sourced from antique dealers across Italy. Spanning the Roman to Romanesque to Renaissance eras, it includes Corinthian capitals, fountains, sculptures of muses and mythological animals, frescoed friezes, portals and epigraphs. And, the palazzo has some Roman heritage itself, sitting on the site of the former Alesandrian baths, built in 62AD.

Fitness Center

Free Internet Access

Laundry

Pet Friendly

On-Site Restaurant

Room Service

Spa

At the Hotel

Culture-led club, gym and hammam, reading room with a small library, concierge (from 7am to 11pm), laundry room (free to use from 2pm to 8pm) and a charged service. In rooms: Fresh bread and warm croissants each morning, Smart TV, high-speed WiFi, Illy coffee-maker with eight free capsules, tea-making kit, two bottles of mineral water, international adaptor, daily cleaning (linens and towels changed every three days), air-conditioning, bathrobes and Comfort Zone bath products.

Our Favourite Rooms

Each apartment feels unique and special, and there are none we’d turn our nose up at. Aside from the cherished collection of family-collected stonework and the frescoed and beamed bits, there's dainty porcelain ware by Richard Ginori, furnishings by De Padova and Alivar, accessories by Kartell, Artemide lighting, Altai carpeting, and spectacular marbles by Antolini. The only real choice is whether you want a terrace (Comfort apartments), an extra bedroom (Prestige or Penthouse apartments) or a cosier space (Studio apartment).

Spa

Get into gladiatorial shape in the fitness room (from 8am to 10pm, for up to six guests at a time), which is packed with Technogym kit (an elliptical, bike, treadmills, a Kinesis core station, wellness ball and weight bench) then follow in the path of the Roman’s thermae with a spell in the green-mosaic-tiled hammam (must be booked in advance, available 9am to 8pm). And, in-apartment pampering can be booked through the concierge.

Packing Tips

The apartments are all set for long-term stays, so translate as many of your belongings here as you wish. Otherwise, get your head around some scientific and cultural theory and school yourself in Italian art to bring something to the table at Frammenti Club.

Also

The palazzo is very much a family affair – Carlo Mazzi oversaw the restoration (and still lives here), his daughter Barbara acts as host, and his wife Patrizia played a huge part in the apartments’ styling.

Children

These private stays are very accommodating for bambini. Most have a sofa bed or interconnect, and if you need a babysitter, itinerary to engage smalls or pretty much anything else just let the concierge know.

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

Guests’ choice.

Dress Code

You’re in your own private city pad, but there’s still room for flouncing about in dramatic robes or even getting dolled up for pre-dinner drinks.

Hotel Restaurant

Each apartment has a kitchen, so dining is DIY here (or DIABAR: ditch it and book a restaurant). Or, you can ask for a private chef to take the reins.

Hotel Bar

You’ll get a bottle of wine from the palazzo’s cellar to welcome you on arrival, and the concierge can certainly help you acquire more. And, if you do a recce of Rome’s enotecas, your kitchen comes with a corkscrew.

Last Orders

The concierge signs off at 11pm, so if you don’t want to schlep bags upstairs then order shopping or deliveries before then.

Room Service

On request groceries can be delivered and Deliveroos brought to your door.

Planes

Both Ciampino and Leonardo Da Vinci airports are about 45 minutes’ drive from the palazzo; the former has connections all over Europe, while the latter better serves international arrivals. The concierge is on call if you need transfers (around €150 each way).

Trains

Roma Termini – from which you can easily connect to Florence, Naples or Pisa, with happy-cry-inducing views throughout all journeys – is just a 20-minute drive from the hotel, and transfers are around €95 each way. The closest Metro stop is Barberini about a 20-minute walk away.

Automobiles

In some ways, driving in Rome is actually very much like the car-chase scene in Spectre, in that it’s a bit of a stressful affair, and you may well find yourself in a barely car-sized cobbled alley tempted to nose the vehicle you’re wedged behind out of the way. Although – alongside many other violations – Bond would likely have also got himself a fine for breaching the ZTL (Limited Traffic Zone). Unless you have the swagger of a special agent and the patience of the Pope, we’d leave the driving. But, if you do brave the streets, there are a few charged car parks close to the hotel. Besides, Rome surprises you more when you’re on foot.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

The cobbled Via delle Coppelle on which the hotel sits was named for the cheap cups of wine you could purchase from vendors along it. These days you can’t exactly swig your way about like a drunk-on-power emperor, but there’s plenty to match that buzz close by, because all the pomp and circumstance of the Eternal City is concentrated in this neighbourhood. Go west and you’ll hit the gloriously OTT San Luigi dei Francesi church, whose ceiling has been thoroughly Midas-touched, and casually hanging on the walls are no less than three Caravaggio masterworks (Saint Matthew and the Angel, The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew and The Calling of Saint Matthew). A little further along is the Church of Sant’Agostino, where you’ll find yet more Caravaggios crowding the walls with works by Raphael, Sansovino and other masters. Go down a bit and you’ll see 16th-century Palazzo Giustiniani, home to the President of the Senate of the Republic, and a sight grander than most government buildings, frescoed and gilded to the hilt within. And then, a few steps away, you’ll come out into Piazza Navona, formerly emperor Domitian’s chariot-racing stadium in the ADs, hence its oval shape, now a lively enclave with Bernini’s famed Fountain of Rivers at its heart. It’s alright, but it does pale into insignificance when you take a 10-minute walk east and find yourself in the fray surrounding the Trevi Fountain – remember, it’s one coin if you want to return, two if you want to return and fall in love, and three if you want to do all that and get married. We can’t promise any of that, but the around €1.5 million that gets tossed in each year goes to homeless charity Caritas Roma, so at least someone’s guaranteed something good from it. And, you’re also a bag swish from Via Campo Marzio and Via Condotti – two of the city’s most well-heeled and dressed streets, lined with luxury-label boutiques (and some indies). If you feel a little overwhelmed ask the hotel to hire you a personal shopper for the day. The latter Via culminates in the Spanish Steps, the Villa Medici and the Villa Borghese encased in its spectacularly landscaped gardens with all the fussy parterre, follies and serene fountains you could ask for. And to the south, the Colosseum and Forum complex are a 30-minute walk away. It’s worth taking a more leisurely walk by the Tiber down to Trastevere, a bohemian ‘hood with a renowned vintage market (Mercato della Città Ecosolidale), paintings and photography in the Museo di Roma, 1930s arthouse cinema Sacher Film and Tiber Island where screenings are held from June to September as part of the Isola del Cinema festival. But, you needn’t go far for cultural fodder – as part of your stay you have access to the Frammenti (‘fragment’) Club, where luminaries from the science, literature and art worlds hold classes and talks a few times a month.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .