Hotel Boscolo Aleph Roma

On Via di San Basilio, 492 ft from Piazza Barberini (underground station of the same name). The famous Triton fountain is also located on this Piazza.
Fiumicino Airport is 16 mi away; Ciampino Airport is 9 mi away. Allow 45 minutes from Fiumicino, and 30 minutes from Ciampino.

The Aleph is a designer hotel in the Boscolo group: it is a small hotel (less than 100 rooms and suites), and pays very close attention to its decor, with the architecture and colour schemes split between the three mythical places in Dante's The Divine Comedy: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. The ground floor (reception, bar, restaurant) welcomes you to Hell. Stay a while in one of the rooms or suites in Purgatory. Feel like an Elysian moment? Visit the basement spa.
Accommodation tip
Four of the deluxe rooms have a terrace: a must for a couple on a weekend break. If not, a stay in the "classic" category will prove just comfortable as in the "superior". If you are a party of three (and why not?), an extra bed can be arranged in rooms of the "deluxe" category and above.
Note: the whole of the hotel (rooms included) is no-smoking.
For prices and reservations, visit www.boscolohotels.com.

In 2004, a former bank was converted into a hotel and decorated in a specific and unique manner: the Aleph. It is a trendy place with a contemporary feel, and the guardians of Hades in front of the entrance are not there to scare you. The themes of Dante's The Divine Comedy are not reproduced here to give the hotel the feel of an amusement park; far from it! Even if the ground floor has the boldest decor, with its abundance of red and no daylight, the interaction of the various materials (leather, chintz and velvet) and lighting gives Hell the appearance of a daring innovation, an arena for self expression. It is the perfect place to stop for an evening drink among sophisticated, trendy Romans. Is all that red making your head spin? Then you have the perfect excuse to linger a while in the spa; in its steam bath, sauna, or in the massage jet pool. It is freely accessible between 10.00 am and 9.00 pm; care and treatments are subject to additional charges. From April to October, the restaurant and bar are moved to the terrace on the top floor: this is the hotel's seasonal highlight.

The 96 rooms and suites are distributed over all the floors of "Purgatory". With the exception of the presidential suite, the various broad categories (rooms, suites) are decorated identically: this is a pity, as it would have been nice to see some variation from room to room (or suite to suite), given that this is a designer hotel. But its uniform appearance does offer one advantage: the style of the Aleph is evident throughout, from the basic "classic" category upwards, and the level of comfort is top-class. Starting with the bathroom: blue and white mosaic tiling means the potentially flashy appearance of marble is avoided, and there is furthermore a generous offering (70 ml) of hospitality products designed especially for the hotel (considering the quality, these can really be labelled as well-being treatments). Depending on the available space, there is a shower or bath, and bathrobes and a hair-dryer are also provided. As for the room itself, the bed looks across to a large-format photo of Roman architecture. Glass and metal feature prominently in the design, although the suites do have more wood features. The higher the category of room, the more spacious. To find a happy medium between the "classic" and "presidential" categories, book one of the 4 "deluxe" rooms with a terrace (surface area approximately 215 ft²). The view either overlooks the street or a newly renovated inner courtyard. There is no need to worry about city noise: the rooms are well sound-proofed.

Dining in the luxury hotels of Rome is a very costly affair, and the Aleph is no exception. Thus the prices on the menu of the Maremoto restaurant, famed for its fish and seafood dishes, may seem staggering to some guests: an oyster will set you back £6.15, while the Neptune's platter costs £40. So take care when choosing your dish: you will not want to miss any of the superb cuisine, nor the "infernal" panache of the setting. Seafood enthusiasts will be tempted by the seafood risotto (£30.70), while those who tend towards meat may wish to order the beef tenderloin (£39.50). Or would you prefer a dish prepared to your own personal taste? If so, go for the bass at £48.30, and choose to have it grilled, baked, fried on the skin side, or cooked in a salt crust, etc. This final option must be recommended for a succulent, melt-in-the-mouth dining experience. Dinner, like breakfast, is taken in a crimson-toned dining room with velvet seating and carefully designed lighting filtering from the ceiling (the room has no windows to the world outside, however, and nor does the adjoining bar). The morning buffet allows you to fill up (scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese, hams, "panettone", and fresh fruit), without committing the sin of greed: we would not have turned down a bit of smoked salmon, fresh fruit salad or fruit juices on request.