Hotel de Russie

A Rocco Forte hotel designed by Giuseppe Valadier in 1814, between Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps, with a terraced Secret Garden, the Stravinskij Bar and a spa.

A small waterfall runs between three classically inspired nymphaeums in the Secret Garden of Hotel de Russie, among roses, orange trees and pines. Giuseppe Valadier drew the terraced garden in the 1820s, behind the hotel he had designed in 1814, and the architect Pietro Paolo Lateano later restored it from Valadier’s own notebooks and sketches. The hotel is on Via del Babuino, between Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps, at the foot of the Pincian Hill.

Jean Cocteau called it paradise on earth in 1917. Picasso stayed for several months that year, and the Picasso Suite is named for him.

Lady Olga Polizzi designed the rooms as part of a €30 million renovation. They start with the 33 sq m Superior Room and climb through junior suites and suites to the Forte Suites. The Popolo Suite has a wraparound terrace over Piazza del Popolo. The Nijinsky Suite is 172 sq m, with a 239 sq m terrace over Villa Borghese, the Pincio terrace, the Secret Garden and the rooftops, and its dining table seats ten.

Le Jardin, Fulvio Pierangelini’s restaurant, has a terrace under mature pine and flowering citrus. Aperitivo is at the Stravinskij Bar, in an open-air piazzetta beneath a pergola inspired by the sculptor Alberto Giacometti. The Aquazzura Bar, created by Lydia Forte and Edgardo Osorio of Aquazzura, pours tequila with small plates by Pierangelini.

The Irene Forte Spa has five treatment rooms, two of them doubles, plus a saltwater hydro pool, a sauna, a steam room and a Technogym gym. Treatments use Irene Forte Skincare, made with ingredients from the Verdura Resort farm in Sicily.