G-Rough

As the old saying goes, you take the rough with the smooth. It means something rather different when the rough in question is G-Rough, the Roman sequel to Venice’s high-design PalazzinaG. Here, aside from some raw textures and finishes, the rough side very rarely comes up — and the concept, outfitting a 17th-century building with Italian design classics from the Thirties, Forties and Fifties, is the very definition of smooth itself.

Here we’d ordinarily be tempted to make some sort of Dolce Vita reference, but the fact is that G-Rough defies those clichés, or any clichés, really. There’s no simple word for the clash of disparate styles, as “eclectic” doesn’t do it justice. The effect is of a hotel whose every detail has been carefully chosen not only for its intrinsic interest but for the contrast it creates with its surroundings. This tension of textures is proof that you can’t have rough without smooth, or smooth without rough.

Our apologies for the highfalutin theorizing — this place does strange things to a person. Suffice it to say that despite the intentional rough edges, this is a luxury experience through and through, just not a typical, conservative luxury experience. This is Roman luxury the way it usually only exists in fantasies: perfectly tailored from materials of the highest quality, and then lovingly scuffed and worn to show it’s built to last.