Rome, Italy

Palazzo Scanderbeg

Price per night from$314.73

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 (EUR290.91), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Residence of eminence

Setting

A short trot from the Trevi

You’re just a hop, skip and a Ferragamo-heeled jump away from the Trevi Fountain at Palazzo Scanderbeg, an elegant Rome hotel with understated rooms and apartment-style suites. Named after a 15th-century nobleman who once chose it as his pied-à-terre in the Eternal City, the palazzo is minutes away from the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the Villa Borghese. Make like its former owner and treat these modern, spacious rooms like your own Roman home – and a very luxurious one at that, if you happen to be in one of the top-tier suites, some of which have a private hammam, a private terrace and butler service. After all, there’s no place like Rome…

Smith Extra

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A bottle of wine on arrival

Facilities

Photos Palazzo Scanderbeg facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Eleven, including seven suites.

Check–Out

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

Prices

Double rooms from £274.20 (€320), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €7.00 per person per night on check-out.

More details

Rates include breakfast. If you’re staying in a Classic room, this is a Continental breakfast served in the Morning room; the suites' kitchens are stocked with breakfast items with hot dishes available to order via room service.

Also

The Classic rooms are smaller than the suites, so would suit couples. The hotel doesn’t have a spa or a gym, but the Deluxe suite has its own hammam. The Ambassador suite has a private ‘Wellness Turret’ (yes, really) with a hammam, exercise machines and even an on-call personal trainer.

At the hotel

Small seating area in reception; valet parking; laundry service; free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV; air-conditioning; minibar; safe; tea- and Lavazza coffee-making kit; sightseeing guide booklet; CO Bigelow bath products. Suites and the Deluxe Townhouse room also have a kitchen with a hob, microwave and dishwasher.

Our favourite rooms

The Classic rooms are no-frills, simple and understated: ideal for a couple looking for a clean-'n-simple base from which to explore Rome. For a more luxurious stay, the Scanderbeg suite has a 15th-century vaulted ceiling and a private roof terrace. Lounge around in the high-ceilinged, white living room, take your pick from two double bedrooms (each with its own ensuite), or unleash your inner Italian chef in the fully-equipped kitchen.

Packing tips

Drape yourself in Italian labels – after all, you are in Rome – and don’t forget trainers for all the walking you’re likely to do around town.

Also

The Classic room can accommodate guests with mobility issues.

Pet‐friendly

As long as you let them know in advance, the hotel welcomes small pets. They can provide food, bowls and blankets for your four-legged friend. See more pet-friendly hotels in Rome.

Children

Children of all ages are welcome. Most suites have two bedrooms or a sofa bed; baby cots can be added to all rooms for free.

Best for

The hotel welcomes children of any age.

Recommended rooms

Book a suite if you have tiny tots; the private sitting room and kitchen will give them (and you) lots of space.

Activities

There’s no crèche or kids club, but Scanderbeg gives all its mini-guests welcome presents, including mementos, albums, puzzles or other games. The hotel’s also happy to organise the odd mystery treasure-hunt for aspiring Sherlocks on request.

Babysitting

Babysitters and nannies are available starting from €25 an hour for a minimum of two hours, with two days’ notice. If you need them after 10pm, you’ll need to pay for their taxi home.

No need to pack

Travel baby cot, baby bedlinen, changing mat, booster seat, books, puzzles, crayons, pens and paper.

Also

The hotel doesn’t have a baby-listening service, so bring your own monitor if you need one. Bring your own pram or buggy, as the hotel doesn’t have any guests can use.

Food and Drink

Photos Palazzo Scanderbeg food and drink

Top Table

It’s worth getting up early to secure a window-side table in the morning room; watch the Roman commuters bustle past as you sip your espresso.

Dress Code

Suite-dwellers should lounge on their sunlit terrace in silk pyjamas – but a pair will come in handy for each room…

Hotel restaurant

Palazzo Scanderbeg doesn’t have a restaurant, but a Continental breakfast of pastries, toast, fruit and eggs is served every day in the morning room. The kitchens in the suites are stocked with cereals, biscuits, jam, yoghurt and butter, and a handful of cooked breakfast dishes are available via the room service menu. 

Hotel bar

There’s no bar at Palazzo Scanderberg, but the rooms’ minibars are well-stocked with free soft drinks and a selection of wine, which you can re-order if you run out.

Last orders

Breakfast in the morning room is from 7am to 11am.

Room service

Room service is available 24/7. The menu is simple but delicious; just what you want after a hard day’s sightseeing: dishes include ham and cheese toasties, Roman chickpea soup, lasagne, fresh fruit and ice cream.

Location

Photos Palazzo Scanderbeg location
Address
Palazzo Scanderbeg
Piazza Scanderbeg, 117
Rome
00187
Italy

Hidden in a tiny piazza just streets away from the Trevi Fountain, Palazzo Scanderbeg is situated in the very heart of Rome.

Planes

Rome’s Fiumicino Airport – well-served by British Airways and EasyJet – is a 45-minute drive. Frequent Ryanair flights arrive at Ciampino Airport, which is the same distance. Palazzo Scanderbeg can organise transfers from both airports from €70 each way.

Trains

Roma Termini train station is just 10 minutes’ drive from the hotel. Order – rather than hail – a cab, to avoid touts trying to charge sky-high fares. Radiotaxi 3570 are said to be the city’s most reliable firm (www.3570.it).

Automobiles

You really won’t need a car in Rome, especially given the hotel’s central location. If you’re determined, hire a car from the booths at both airports. From Fiumicino, take autostrada A91 to reach central Rome, or arrive via autostrada A90 from Ciampino.

Worth getting out of bed for

The hotel has a handy – colour-coded – in-room guide, which lists nearby attractions, even detailing how much time you’ll mooch about there; the hotel can usually organise tickets, too. Scanderbeg’s spectacularly central location means the Trevi Fountain, the Quirinal Palace and the Pantheon are all less than 10 minutes’ walk away. If you fancy zipping around like the locals, the hotel can organise vespa tours around the city. In sweltering July and August, the Villa Borghese and its gloriously cool gardens can be a welcome retreat; wander the flower-lined pathways and relax by the fountains. Flash the plastic at the big-name Italian brands and independent shops on Via Condotti by the Spanish Steps, a short stroll away from Scanderbeg. If you’re worried about supporting the weight of all those glossy carrier bags, never fear: the hotel can organise a personal shopper and a golf buggy to ferry you and your new designer togs around. Feeling creative? Foodie types should book the hotel’s cooking lessons, which take place in historic venues across the city (complete with a guided tour) and involve a trip to the market to buy fresh produce. If you’d rather stay on-site, Scanderbeg can arrange for a private, in-suite cooking lesson with the resident chef, who’ll also whip up your supper.

Local restaurants

Have supper beside the fountain at Trattoria al Moro on Vicolo delle Bollette, a traditional restaurant with views of the Trevi; compared with the grand views, the food is stylishly simple – the classic menu has spaghetti bolognese, seared tuna and home-made pastries. For a relaxed, convivial atmosphere, head to Pierluigi in Piazza dé Ricci. Ask for an outside table outside on the quiet, cobbled street, and try the fresh seafood that’s made this a hidden favourite among locals. Wine-lovers raise your glasses: the cellar holds more than 600 labels for you to work your way through. If you don't fancy straying far from the hotel, go for Piccolo Arancio, a tiny trattoria serving Roman treats such as fried artichoke, pasta and tiramisu.

Local bars

What began as a book bar, where guests could browse the shelves while they sipped a glass of wine, has now become the riotously popular Salotto 42 on Piazza di Pietra: an bougainvillea-filled wine cellar popular with hip young things, mostly for the inventive (and madcap) cocktails. Brace yourself for a hit of Gekkeikan sake, crushed grapes and lime juice in the house tipple. For something more traditional, the Jerry Thomas speakeasy on Vicolo Cellini is a members-only club with strict rules: no sleeping on the tables, no politics-chat and no vodka. Glide through the Twenties interior to the tune of soft jazz, clutching your cut-glass champagne flute (don’t forget to make eyes at the dashing waiters).

Reviews

Photos Palazzo Scanderbeg reviews
Sarah Jappy

Anonymous review

By Sarah Jappy, Wordsmith wondergirl

You know how the saying goes: ‘When in Rome, bed down in a former pasta museum.’ Admittedly, that wasn’t a saying until 10 seconds ago, when I wrote it down, but now it is – and it’s one to live by.

It is a credit to the bloodhound-sensitivity of my nostrils that, as we step into Palazzo Scanderbeg’s immaculate entrance – all elegant splashes of fior di latte-white and neutral hues; casual coffee-table tomes here, monochrome artworks there; everything done in the best possible unobtrusive Italian taste – I remark to Mr Smith, with a sigh of pleasure: ‘It smells of pasta.’

Not the fiery garlicky tomatoey slug to the nose of arrabiata, not the salty, creamy, cheesy, wafty fug of carbonara, but the clean and simple smell of durum wheat. It’s a soothing scent. Jo Malone should probably launch a pasta-centric range; ‘Penne and Pine Nuts’ might topple Pomegranate Noir.

At this point, in the immaculate lobby, I am unaware of Palazzo Scanderbeg’s carby past. What I am aware of is a feeling of immense satisfaction, having been graciously seated in a lardon-soft leather chair and immediately presented with a glass of prosecco as pale and delicate as an Englishman abroad. On the side: a little dish of buttery bits, bobs and berries that Mr Smith and I inhale instantly with approval.

This is my first minibreak with Mr Smith. We are yet to get lost in a hot and sweaty foreign city; we are yet to fall out when hangry and in dire need of a loo break; we’ve never got our car stuck down a Greek road without hope of imminent rescue from a tractor, or endured traumatic massages whilst wearing tiny paper pants in a Cretan spa, or survived together the emotional assault and physical indignity of a five-day-delayed Ryanair flight from Marrakech. Consequently, we’re as fresh and giddy as schoolgirls; our romance fizzing as brightly as the recent prosecco.

There is no better place for box-fresh lovers than Rome. Every single millimetre of this classical city, with its myriad laneways and frankly ridiculous cultural treasures and star-turn trattorie and gelaterie and knee-weakening pasticcerie and statues and art and ravishingly beautiful Italians, was designed to make people go gooey – whether for the gelato, the Trevi Fountain, pizza blanca, every single random church where magnificent frescoes lurk (take your hat off; I forgot) or each other. We fall for all of the above and more. Because: Rome.

Here in the Eternal City, we embark on the kind of revoltingly romantic sojourn that Instagram is designed for. Palazzo Scanderbeg plays an important role in this. Its simple, pearl-pale rooms provide a blank canvas for our love affair. Immaculate white boudoir; sleek black bathroom; Nespresso machine: this formula could go down in textbooks as instructions for seduction. Factor in quiet and discreet staff (who may or may not have interrupted us mid-‘sesso’, both to their surprise and ours), Poltrona Frau furniture and that leave-you-to-it approach that has guests disrobing with wild abandon, and you’re left with a heady mix.

Then there are Scanderbeg’s delicious DIY breakfasts; DIY in that you go upstairs and get them yourselves (as civilised a form of hunter-gathering as I’ve ever encountered). You’re even encouraged to take your edible bounty back to your bedroom (#itsallaboutdatbedroom), should you wish. Instead, we pause and remind ourselves what other humans look like, staking out a couple of bonkers purple chairs and nibbling indecently custard-stuffed croissants while admiring the views from the windows. (Palazzo Scanderbeg gives good window.)

When you’re falling for someone, you don’t really need to go outside. When in Rome, you definitely should. Not all neighbours are worth knowing, but Palazzo Scanderbeg’s is: a tiny, brilliant, wonderfully local restaurant by the name of Piccolo Arancio. I first divine that this place is going to be good when I admire it from the street-spying windows of our bedroom and notice a steady stream of chic, (understandably) smug-looking Romans trickling down to its al fresco, gingham-paper-topped tables.

Soon it’s our turn. We bag the prime spot outside, where we sit in sunshine for several hours, enjoying a lengthy culinary romance involving artichoke (OH, THE ARTICHOKE!), stuffed courgette flowers, anchovies with rocket and tomatoes, parma ham, salmon-and-cream gnocchi, Frascati and tiramisù. (NB: we try artichoke every which way in Rome; Piccolo’s crispy-leaved, liquorice-y fried version is the undisputed winner.)

There’s an inside section at Piccolo but I have no idea what it looks like; my advice is to bag an outside table and watch the world go by from your plate/s. On this recurring topic of food and drink, not one meal we pause for in Rome is any less than incredible. Other places worth writing home about include Cacio e Pepe – yep, for cacio e pepe – and a seafood restaurant called Nanà Vini e Cucina, which has a romantic courtyard where brilliant waiters serve giant fish platters, toothsome seafood linguine (heaped with clams, squid and mussels), and Pecorino wine worth boarding a plane for. We even find a hole-in-the-wall bar with a chalkboard drinks list and obliging barmen who concoct streetside Aperol spritzes with all the pizazz of Tom Cruise in Cocktails – for €5 apiece.

Occasionally, we put our knives and forks down. We visit the Trevi Fountain (admittedly it’s a two-minute walk away), the Colosseum and the Pantheon. We admire magnificent murals, we dip into antiques markets and we window-shop for eye-wateringly expensive vintage sunnies. We sniff delicious scents in an artisan perfumery; we stroll aaaaaaallllll around the city (managing to get lost, yet remaining paw-in-paw and in good spirits); we admire a Willy Wonka-worthy wall of liquid chocolate at Venchi gelateria. We walk across the river; we walk back across the river; we walk up the Spanish Steps; we walk down the Spanish Steps; we visit the Campo de’ Fiori market and we invest in pasta gifts for the folks back home.

Most of all, we enjoy each other, and Rome, and Palazzo Scanderbeg. That’s a threesome worth repeating.

 
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Price per night from $314.73