The St. Regis Rome site features

The entrance gives the period away before anything else does. This is a Belle Époque building, and the public rooms are tall, plastered and corniced rather than panelled — pale walls, polished stone, chandeliers at a height that only works in a room built for them.

Then there is the lift, which is the oldest thing you will touch. It is the same shell César Ritz designed and built, registered as the thirteenth modern elevator of the era in Rome and called a "rising room" when it was new, now fitted with current mechanism inside the original car.

The ballroom is the reason the building matters and it is still a single volume. 276 square metres under original frescoes, with marbled walls and magnificent chandeliers — one room that holds 450 people standing, with adjoining rooms opening off it.

Contemporary art sits in the middle of all this, permanently. Not a rotating loan but a permanent exhibition space, so the nineteenth-century plasterwork has twenty-first-century installations in front of it.

Upstairs the register softens. 132 rooms and 29 suites, layered with pastel hues, with the beautiful proportions a building of this date gives you for nothing.

The Ritz Ballroom

The first public ballroom of Rome. Designed by Giulio Podesti (1857–1909) in 1890, opened by César Ritz in 1894. Original frescoes, marbled walls and magnificent chandeliers; 276 square metres, Belle Époque, with adjoining rooms. Takes 450 for a reception or up to 300 seated.

The lift

Designed and built by César Ritz and registered as the thirteenth modern elevator of the era in Rome — a "rising room" in the language of the day. The same shell still runs, with current technology inside it.

Galleria Continua

A permanent exhibition space opened here in January 2020 on the gallery's thirtieth anniversary, inaugurated with four site-specific installations by Loris Cecchini at the unveiling of a meticulous full restoration.

Lumen

The all-day Italian restaurant — the hotel calls it the Roman Salotto. Every day 7.00–00.30. Dress code smart casual. Executive Chef Francesco Donatelli.

Lumen Garden

Seasonal, May to September — and available only for private receptions, not as a walk-in restaurant.

The St. Regis Rome Spa, Sisley Paris

Every day 9.00–21.00, appointment required. Body scrubs, facials, in-suite massages, a steam room and separate lounges for men and women.

The fitness centre

Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and complimentary. Technogym equipment, free weights, locker rooms and sauna rooms.

The rooms

132 guest rooms and 29 suites, layered with pastel hues.

The Evolution of a District

A virtual-reality commission by IF Experience on the Baths of Diocletian and the quarter built over them.