Ripa Hotel

On arrival
Standing eight floors high, the Ripa Hotel runs perpendicular to the street and is set back slightly from the neighbouring buildings so does not come into view until you are standing directly opposite its impressive rectangular structure. The roughcast, rectilinear façade dotted with the cube shaped balconies of the bedrooms, sits atop the external-facing, glass frontage of the ground floor, which is given over entirely to the hotel’s public areas.

The main entrance of the hotel, halfway along the side of the building and accessed via a short private lane running alongside the café terrace, takes you into a first lobby dotted with strange little round red pouffes. To the right of this lobby is a wide corridor leading to the bar and breakfast room but if you continue straight ahead you will come to the central reception area which sits at the foot of an impressive light shaft around which the building’s eight floors spiral. This is the hub of the building where inviting sofas sit in front of the reception desk and at either end of the lobby, double lifts come and go incessantly.

The walls are white, the light has a grey tinge, traditional Roman stone frames the lift doors and the corridors leading to the rooms are reminiscent of those you would find in seaside establishments or in some American motels.

The rooms
The rooms are particularly original. The beds are almost boat-shaped so look perfectly at home in the centre of the open-plan space, away from the walls.

The lines are minimalist but curved, the materials simple but practical, and the multitude of little pebble shapes on the carpet add a natural, zen feel.

The surfaces are smooth and either white or brightly-coloured. The walls are free of pictures, the dressing areas are open, the mirrors are placed against the partitions, the banquettes have no arms, the beds no bedside tables, the desk no accessories and the showers are walk-in. The general ambience is contemporary and informal, one of luxury derived of apparent simplicity and plenty of space to move around.

Room types
The hotel has five categories of room: the essential, executive, avant-garde, junior and presidential.

The executives are double rooms with a desk and dressing area. The essential rooms have the same facilities but here contemporary-style furniture replaces the minimalist furniture of all the other rooms.

The junior and avant-garde are large suites. Specific to the avant-garde suites is their resin floor, their 8th (top) floor location and access to a large terrace overlooking Rome. The junior suites are large open-plan areas incorporating the bathroom, lounge and the bedroom.

The presidential suites have two rooms so are ideal for families.

Breakfasts
Naturally, given the number of rooms in the hotel, the breakfast room is big and buzzing with activity. The buffet-style breakfast offers a selection of products including pasties, cereals, fruit salad, dairy products, cold meats and cheeses.