Grand Hotel de la Minerve

On arrival
The pink façade of the Grand Hotel de la Minerve stretches along almost an entire block with only a single feature to interrupt its strict alignment: a glass and metal canopy that hovers above a substantial entrance porch on the Piazza della Minerva.

Once through the revolving door, your first impression is one of great space. While the reception is in a room to your right, the entrance leads naturally past the concierge’s desk to the lobby.

This lobby, the former winter garden of the palazzo, boasts superb vaulted arcades along its short sides. At the end of the room a statue of the chaste Minerva, goddess of wisdom, watches kindly over the room. The lobby stretches out under its bright Art Nouveau glass ceiling.

White marble, walls in grey plaster, carpets, lamps with white pleated shades, sofas in soft green and dark pink, furniture with simple lines, a few antiques, and large arrangements of lilies and orchids give these salons a distinction that balances the modern and the traditional. Different from the rest of the hotel, they are happy to retain the more serious look of a bygone era.

To one side of the Olimpo room there are other sitting rooms and meeting rooms, whose high glazed doors with wooden crossbars reflect the image of the lobby. On the other side is the piano bar, Le Coupole, with its immaculate parquet and a discreet atmosphere. The corners of the rooms lead to the lifts and broad staircases.

The bedrooms
Spacious and pleasantly laid out, the rooms offer variations on a contemporary decorative theme that is restrained, light and mellow.

Even though they all differ slightly from each other, the rooms are large enough to have a small sitting area and sometimes a dressing room. In many rooms the desk faces into the room, so that if you have to work it is more pleasant.

The harmonious colours vary from a very light grey-beige on the walls to a darker brown for the bedheads, with fabrics in tones of green and muted orange for the bedspread, settee or armchair. Fabrics are textured, striped or subtly patterned, and combined with taste. Subdued lighting plays on the lustre of leather and on the simple lines. On the floor, light coloured carpets, and on the walls, some sketches by Modigliani, or of flowers.

The bathrooms are mostly in travertine, with modern tap fittings.

Types of room
The hotel offers four room types: Superior, Deluxe, Junior Suite and Suite.

They are distinguished by their size. Deluxe rooms have a real sitting room. In a Junior suite this is separate from the bedroom, providing two spacious rooms that are ideal for families.

The hotel’s four suites each have their own layout. The Stendhal suite, on the first floor, has gorgeous painted vaulted ceilings, not particularly high, which give the rooms a very intimate feel. The other suites are on the piano nobile and have beautiful high ceilings with exposed beams.

The hotel also offers two rooms with their own lovely private terrace. Given the layout of this building with its many nooks and crannies, rooms may look out over the Piazza della Minerva, the pedestrian streets at the side, or the two interior courtyards, one of which is open on one side.

Breakfast
Served as a hot and cold buffet in one of the dining rooms downstairs from the lobby, breakfast offers a wide choice, from cereals to dairy products, from cut fresh fruit to the fruit basket, from cold meat to cheese, as well as tarts and Italian style mini pastries. Hot drinks are served at your table.