rhinoceros

Long-stay hotels used to be dull places, determined above all else to be inoffensive almost to the point of invisibility. But that’s all changed. The best of today’s residential-style apartment hotels are just as inventive as any boutique hotel — which is how you get Alda Fendi’s non-profit arts foundation hiring an architect of Jean Nouvel’s caliber to design Rhinoceros, a spectacular collection of apartments in the Foundation’s 17th-century Roman palazzo.

In typical Roman style it’s a collage of history, featuring elements from every century of the palazzo’s life, and seemingly unfinished surfaces contrast with ornate tilework and chic contemporary Italian luxury furnishings. Proper kitchens are included in every unit, making them genuinely viable as long-stay lodgings, and the visuals, however flashy, reward repeat viewings — this place is about more than just first impressions.

The residential concept means there’s no lobby in the typical sense; what Rhinoceros does have that ordinary hotels don’t, of course, is access to the Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti gallery, with which it shares the building. And on the top floor is a restaurant that goes beyond ordinary hotel fare: Caviar Kaspia is an outpost of the Parisian brand of the same name, and adds classic Roman flavors to its Russian and French influences.