The Place 217

Though Rome does have a few full-sized palace-style luxury hotels, the city’s most characteristic form of hospitality might be its small-scale, residential-style luxury boutique hotels. The Place 217 is prominently located on the Via Cola di Rienzo, a few minutes’ walk from the Piazza San Pietro and the Vatican. It’s tucked away, however, on the sixth floor of a 1930s residential building; it’s easy enough to miss from street level, which only adds to the air of seclusion that’s essential to this type of urban escape.

It’s got just a handful of rooms and suites, and they’re all comfortably sized, especially for so central a neighborhood. The style, as is customary in Rome, shows respect for the building’s original architecture even as it features contemporary furniture and décor. There’s a junior suite equipped with a whirlpool tub and a sauna, and the top-floor suite has a view of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. There’s no restaurant, but the Prati district suffers no shortage, and nor do the surrounding neighborhoods — cross the Tiber and you’re right in the most heavily traveled part of the city.