Rome, Italy

Maalot Roma

Price per night from$543.40

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR502.27), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Hitting a high note

Setting

A trickle from the Trevi

Maalot Roma offers a kind of Roman Holiday in reverse, where you’ll come to the Eternal City to be enshrined amid regal luxury. But, this former home of 19th-century opera composer Gaetano Donizetti isn’t a diva – the friendly-as-can-be staff encourage you to make yourself at home, whether you’re taking an eau de nil banquette underneath the wide-spread chandelier in the nerve-centre restaurant, sampling your way through the rum collection in the cosy bar or are being jet-massaged in your room’s marble-lined shower-cum-hammam. Decor hithers and thithers between eras and styles, with a look that’s British colonial and English country garden, by way of the Grand Tour. Furnishings are bespoke in luxe materials, rooms are lined with richly hued fabrics, and Baroque paintings with irreverent modern details line the walls. And, it may be steps from the Trevi Fountain but it’s intimately tucked away, so all this splendour is just for those in the know.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A cocktail each at the bar with a selection of canapés

Facilities

Photos Maalot Roma facilities

Need to know

Rooms

30, including 15 suites.

Check–Out

12 noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £473.42 (€552), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €10.00 per person per night on check-out.

More details

Rates usually include a generous breakfast with homemade cakes, breads, cereals, yoghurts, fresh fruit, juices, coffee and tea.

Also

Maalot is meant to feel like a true Italian home, and it’s been designed to ensure guests feel like it’s their own during their stay; the hotel opted for real keys over cards, paintings in rooms are inspired by the Marvin Gaye song Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home), and minibar drinks are free – we’ll saluti to that.

At the hotel

Lounge, bar, small library, fitness room, free WiFi. In rooms: HD flatscreen TV, custom walk-in closet, free minibar.

Our favourite rooms

Pick a colour: walls range from lipstick-on-your-collar red to blue as the Tyrrhenian here. And, Maalot has a palazzo’s penchant for maximalism, with gilt-edged custom furnishings in rich woods, a British colonial flavour with animal and floral prints and a smattering of small statuettes and art books. Plus fabric-lined walls for a cosier feel and jazzy arabesque marbles in bathrooms. So, you’re guaranteed drama whichever you pick. We do love the One-Bedroom Suite which has a bath tub – the only one in the hotel – for its navy and chartreuse colour scheme and separate sitting room with a fireplace; and of the top two suites sitting at the penthouse level, the Terrace just pips the post for its outdoor space.

Spa

Decked out in ebonised wood and mirror walls, the 100sq m basement fitness centre is a stylish space to tone up in. Technogym equipment includes a Kinesis machine, rowing machine, bikes and treadmills. Yoga and Pilates classes will also be available and a personal trainer can motivate you.

Packing tips

Bring your opera glasses for perusing the paintings and getting a closer look at the little library of Taschen tomes in the reception.

Also

There’s a lift in the hotel and one of the rooms is suitable for guests with mobility issues, although there is a step into the shower.

Pet‐friendly

Dogs can stay in any room in the hotel for €50 a night, which includes a kennel, water bowl and food. See more pet-friendly hotels in Rome.

Children

Welcome…in as much as bambini are warmly welcomed into most Italian homesteads; however, as it’s inappropriate for them to prop up the bar, there’s little for them to do here. Although staff can arrange babysitting for €50 an hour.

Sustainability efforts

The hotel makes an effort to recycle and encourages guests to do so with divided recycling bins in rooms. The hotel has installed a water-filtration system so guests can refresh drinking bottles onsite and lights work on a sensor to save energy.

Food and Drink

Photos Maalot Roma food and drink

Top Table

For date night, retire to the smaller, more softly lit bar; for melodious gestural conversation, pick a pew in Don Pasquale.

Dress Code

You’re not required to dress on ceremony, but hanging out here gives you an excuse to pack like a prima donna.

Hotel restaurant

Don Pasquale Cucina and Bar is the thrumming heart of the hotel where guests enter on arrival. It’s named after a farcical opera about foolish pursuits of love written by Gaetano Donizetti and the decor is suitably theatrical and witty. Silken banquettes in eau de nil and scarlet and tables topped with mirrors and locally made tiles are overhung by a chandelier that branches out across a vaulted Crittall glass ceiling. And on the walls are cheeky works of art – say, Stanley Gonczanski’s old-school portraits where subjects sporting ruffs and frock coats have been embellished with lobster hats, biker tattoos and balloon animals. Plus Massimo Listri’s large format photograph of Rome’s highly ornate Palazzo Colonna. Once you’ve mused on the walls, muse on the menu, which has the kind of simply elegant dishes the Italians do best (courtesy of chef Domenico Boschi): say, codfish and panzanella, tortelli filled with aubergine in a tomato sauce or linguine with zucchini flowers and anchovies. And finish with the cultural crossover you didn’t know you needed: a sweet taco with a tiramisu-style filling. 

 

Hotel bar

You can drink in Don Pasquale, but there’s also a bijou bar set to one side with a glowing triptych of mirrors behind the counter, intimate pairs of armchairs and artworks on the walls that nod to ancient marble reliefs – and some more poking fun at the past with Marie Antoinette brandishing an ice-cream cone. It’s awash with Italian wines and the barkeep makes a refreshing, vermouth-soused herbal spritz (and other tasty mixed sippers using house-made infusions and syrups), but the hotel’s tipple of choice is rum – there’s a laser-focused selection here and they can arrange a tasting of some out-of-the-ordinary picks.

Last orders

Breakfast runs from 7.00am to 11am, lunch from noon to 3pm and dinner at Don Pasquale Cucina and Bar from 6.30pm to 10:30pm. The bar servers will top you up till midnight.

Room service

If, like us, you dream of heaped plates of pasta, you’ll be delighted to know that there’s round-the-clock room service to satisfy your cravings even in the wee hours.

Location

Photos Maalot Roma location
Address
Maalot Roma
Via delle Muratte, 78
Roma
00187
Italy

The Trevi Fountain is so close to Maalot Roma you can practically hear the water spilling out from under Oceanus’ feet. From it’s super-central seat on the Via delle Muratte you can walk to all of Rome’s most marbled, gilded and colonnaded sights.

Planes

Both Rome Fiumicino and Ciampino are about a 40-minute drive away from the hotel and many services from across Europe and beyond fly directly to both. Transfers for two from Fiumicino can be arranged for €90 each way.

Trains

Rome Termini, the city’s busiest station, is a 10-minute taxi ride or 20-minute walk away – past museums, art galleries, the Quirinale Palace and Trevi Fountain. Trains arrive direct here from Pisa, Naples, Bologna and Florence, so you can easily combine your stay here with another of Italy’s historic cities.

Automobiles

With so many must-see landmarks within walking distance and the many car-free ZTLs to contend with in Rome, having a car will likely hinder more than help – plus, as civilised as the Romans were, they didn’t really take convenient parking into consideration.

Worth getting out of bed for

Perhaps only Romulus himself is more connected with Rome than the hotel is. With a forceful flick you could potentially land a coin in the Trevi Fountain from your window (two if you want to fall in love, as the legend goes). Although Via delle Muratte runs alongside the hotel and is one of the busiest streets in the city, it may be safer just to walk the minute trip it takes to see the fountain in full flush. You can easily tour Rome’s greatest hits on foot from here. To the north there’s the Spanish Steps, Villa Borghese and its lush gardens and gilded gallery, and fashion parade Via Condotti; to the east is the National Gallery of Modern Art, Quirinale Palace Gardens and the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore; to the south is the huge Forum complex and the Colosseum; and to the west is the Pantheon, Piazza Navona and the Vatican. Once you’ve ticked those off, brave the Mouth of Truth, gaze in awe at Galleria Sciarra’s Art Nouveau courtyard, go underground to see a temple dedicated to the myste§rious cult of Mithras (in the Piazza Bocca della Verita), see the Caravaggios at the Palazzo Barberini and Rome’s present-day art stars at Maxxi Gallery. See the setpieces of Cinecittà, the locations of iconic scenes and even meet some of the extras on a cinematic tour with Eleonora Baldwin, the granddaughter of Neorealist legend Vittorio de Sica. And cap your night by touring the city’s best cocktails – or ask the hotel to arrange a special meal in one of Rome’s noble houses – one for unpacking the evening gown.

Local restaurants

If you’re taken with the hotel’s sumptuous yet eclectic style, then head over to Baccano (just steps away), a restaurant that was also designed by the RPM Proget Studio. It borrows a vintage look from Belle Époque bistros and New York’s Balthazar, and has a menu with an array of tempting pastas (a serious carbonara, fettuccine with shrimp and mullet bottarga…), trad secondi (rabbit with wild fennel, fried meatballs) and whichever fish are fresh that day. Practically on your doorstep, too, is Vos, an unpretentious modern, Metro-tiled eatery with an internal courtyard and delicious handmade pastas and pick-and-mix meats and cheeses. And, Trattoria al Moro (again, just around the corner) is an old-school trattoria with wine-lined walls and a somewhat random selection of art, but also a lengthy list of pastas and some finely honed meat dishes.

Local cafés

We like the graphic tiled floor, stylistically crumbling walls and vintage school chairs of Quirinetta Caffè e Cucina (2 Via Marco Minghetti) where you can simply grab an espresso or tuck into a lunch of burrata-topped panzanella, chickpea meatballs or a creamy cacio e pepe. Grom is one of Italy’s most beloved gelaterias, and the closest to the hotel is on Via della Maddalena. The menu changes monthly depending on seasonal ingredients, but stalwarts such as the stracciatella, salted caramel and zingy sorbets are failsafe favourites.

Local bars

It’s hard to pop a cork without it hitting a wine bar in the Eternal – and eternally merry – City, but Il Goccetto might be the grand cru of them all. It’s walls clink with 850 bottles, enough to make your head spin before you’ve taken your first sip, but the staff will deftly guide you and ply you with some tempting bar bites. If you prefer grain to grape, then head to Open Baladin, where beer is taken as seriously as wine and they’ve drafted in picks from Italy’s finest breweries for tastings.

Reviews

Photos Maalot Roma reviews
Sophie McElligott

Anonymous review

By Sophie McElligott , Marketing maven

The walk from Termini Station to the hotel is an estimated 30 minutes but it’s almost impossible not to keep stopping.

You’re transported into what feels like a Renaissance computer game; there’s stuff happening at every level. Mopeds! Chic locals drinking Negronis! Really old beautiful things you couldn’t even imagine! Roasted chestnuts! Priests and nuns! Ice-cream! Tourists with sunburn!

The light is different, and so are the colours. Saturated golden sunshine mingles with the white marble, grey concrete, baked terracotta and varying shades of ochre buildings.

Our feet hardly touch the cobblestones as we’re carried by hordes of sightseers that throng around the Fontana di Trevi. At 85 feet tall and built from bright white marble and travertine, the tourist hotspot does little to dampen its impact – although the water that spews from the baroque structure is almost entirely out of view through the wall of bodies.

Only a minute or so later we reach our destination – or so the map says. A little confused, boiling and sweaty, we search the jam-packed street lined with throbbing restaurants, a jumble of market stalls and clattering street sellers for the hotel sign but it does not seem to be anywhere. It takes a minute to register the restaurant Don Pasquale which I recall from the hotel guide, and at its entrance, on closer inspection we spot the small subtle plaque engraved with ‘Maalot Roma’.

Inside, low Balearic house music drifts through this light, clean oasis of calm. The generous entrance features spotless black stone floors providing the perfect visual contrast to the high white walls, arched ceilings and pillars. A contemporary glass lantern hangs from an iron chain and, below, Regency-style tables and chairs sit before a floor-to-ceiling panelled mirror.

To the left there’s a lift, which serves each of the 30 individually designed rooms, and a bright yellow feature wall before which sits a plinth displaying a marble torso – a detail from Laocoön and His Sons.

To reach the check-in, one must pass through Don Pasquale’s main dining room. Its glass ceiling floods the space with natural light and the herringbone wooden floor softens the bold interior featuring giant palms, crushed-velvet banquettes in peacock blue and deep red, zebra-print scatter cushions, emerald tile tables, exotic flowers and shiny black bamboo seating with patterned pads.

Overhead an oversized chandelier with furled gold leaves carries two halos of little lamps wrapped in red linen shades. There’s a panelled feature wall painted olive green, sporting an overwhelming collection of framed digital art collages by Argentinian artist Stanley Gonczanski whose take on classic masters are anti-serious and ironic.

We’re welcomed warmly by the concierge who repeatedly offers us prosecco, which we turn down as we’re keen to change our clothes and start exploring the city. As she fills out some forms my eyes wander across the striped borders, feature ceilings, ostrich feathers, bookshelves and coffee-table books – I couldn’t quite place it at first, but the hotel’s maximalist décor gives off a sort of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen energy.

Our room is great. It actually feels like we might be the first people to stay there. It feels so clean and new. The turquoise linen walls are adorned with illustrations from old Vogue magazines in mirrored frames. There’s a bookshelf with an easy mix of travel, fashion and music books published by Taschen, Assouline and Rizzoli.

The scalloped padded bedhead is upholstered in bright violet and stone-white silk linen and the long embroidered curtains match the scatter cushions on the lime green armchair. Despite all the colour it still feels tranquil, and the noise and chaos and smells from the street below are entirely shut out.

The lighting in the floor-to-ceiling Arabescato Corchia marble bathroom is motion-sensored, as is the walk-in wardrobe, giving the space a sense of luxury. The team have laid out a tray of petit fours, there’s a fruit bowl with redcurrants, physalis, grapes and more, and the fridge is stocked with soft drinks in glass bottles, and jars of nuts and other snacks in branded packaging.

The products in the bathroom – created in Italy, using organic and gluten-free ingredients – are also own-brand, the packaging emblazoned with the word ‘love’ in colourful lettering. There’s a lot of care and consideration that has gone into creating Maalot Roma.

The hotel is as central as it comes. The Pantheon, Piazza Navona and the Spanish Steps are minutes away by foot (so is All’Antico Vinaio, the best sandwich shop in Rome). We walk to the Coliseum, to Villa Borghese and across the river to the Vatican City. It’s a chance encounter, but in the square outside St Peter’s Basilica we find ourselves at the front of a crowd as Pope Francis rides past us on his Popemobile.

Stumbling back from a picture-book day out (and one too many aperitivi), we collapse onto one of the velvet sofas at the aforementioned Don Pasquale (actually named after composer, and former resident, Gaetano Donizetti’s greatest work). The menu, created by chef Domenico Boschi, serves a mix of Roman cuisine.

We drink good wine, and to start I enjoy cauliflower, melting egg and truffle, and to follow Costolette d’Agnello, la sua Crocchè, Scarola Uvetta e Pinoli, which is a very pretty dish with the most tender melt-in-the-mouth lamb. To finish, an artfully presented apple crumble.

The menu offers five enticing choices per course, alongside a ‘Don Burger’, avocado toast and a club sandwich as a scene change for guests after a hotel classic. In an adjoining room, there’s a little cocktail bar that boasts one of the largest collections of rum in Rome.

After an excellent night’s sleep, before breakfast is served, we nip out to see the Trevi Fountain – this time without other tourists, which is pretty cool. Back at the hotel, we’re served a Continental breakfast: a tower of pastries (sweet, savoury and Neapolitan rolls), cake, yoghurt, fruit and scrambled eggs.

The staff speak perfect English and are on the whole very friendly, but at times appear as if they’re led by a script rather than intuition. Over the course of the weekend we hear different members of the team entertain visitors with matching anecdotes and introductions. You kind of want them to loosen up a bit, but maybe this is just because the hotel is still in its baby years.

One thing we didn’t try was the gym. You’d have to be a die-hard fitness fanatic to swap an hour wandering the city for the treadmill. We did see the sign though.

This was a weekend to remember, in summary. Two nights, 30,000 steps a day, thousands of years in history, months of inspiration, a hundred bowls of pasta. It couldn’t have been better. Veni, vidi, vici.

Book now

Price per night from $543.40