Located just steps from Rome’s Piazza del Popolo, The Hotel Locarno is a budget boutique hotel with traditional, Italianate charm and a fascinating cinematic heritage. Built as a hotel back in 1925, it has always been a favourite pied-a-terre for actors, script-writers and artists. Film director Bernard Weber was so enamoured of the boutique hotel he called home in Rome that he made a film there called Hotel Locarno in 1978 starring Greta Garbo.

The rooms

After a recent refurbishment the boutique hotel’s 66 rooms have been given a much-needed make-over without losing their old-school allure. The original, rickety lift beside reception takes guests up to the single and standard rooms which are a touch bland, although they all have hand-printed, Art Deco, silk wallpaper and original 1920s lights.

The rooms and suites in the second building of the boutique hotel across the sunny patio are far more glamorous with ornate frescoes, Tiffany lamps, antiques and views onto Via della Penna. 606 is the most spacious deluxe room, 602 has an original frescoed ceiling dating back to 1905 and 605, the Suite dei Fiori, has a decadent, turn-of-the-century claw-foot tub in its sunny bathroom.

The Cardinal Suite is dark, brooding and atmospheric with heavy, antique furniture and swathes of red velvet. But the most spectacular is the boutique hotel’s largest room, the Venetian Suite. With its Venetian marble floors, leaded glass windows, porcelain bath and private corner balcony, it epitomises old-school Roman glamour and has graced the pages of many a glossy magazine.

The boutique hotel also has a third building with a separate entrance round the corner which houses six non-smoking suites. Although they are sparsely-furnished, they make up for their lack of character with much more space and light thanks to full-length glass doors and balconies. The large private roof terrace looking out over the centre of Rome make these suites popular with writers, publicity-shy celebrities and long-stay guests.

The facilities

With many of Rome’s most famous sites literally on its doorstep, the Hotel Locarno relies on its charms rather than myriad facilities to keep its guests happy. The boutique hotel still has its original Twenties bar where cocktails and coffees are served either inside during the winter months or on the sunny patio and roof terrace in the summer. In the mornings a buffet breakfast is served downstairs in the basement where there is also a computer with free internet access for the guests. Free Wifi throughout the Hotel Locarno’s only concession to modernity.

As soon as you step in to the Locarno you feel you’ve arrived in a place of charm – if you appreciate, that is, worn parquet flooring and an old world feel. Built in 1925, it retains the unhurried atmosphere of a traditional albergo, in sharp contrast to the racing traffic of the Lungo Tevere just a few steps away.

Upstairs the rooms can be a disappointment. A little dowdy, with faded colours and dusty silk walls, they have a slightly melancholy air about them – ideal for poets and real romantics but come prepared. Some are brighter and striped. Bathrooms have been well restored but are small.

The four deluxe rooms are enormous, with exotic fantasy wallpapers and silks, fabrics and mouldings. You can drift to sleep (overnight or permanantly) under magnificent and ornate ceilings, or drown in style in the enormous bathroom of room 605. 602 has a smaller bathroom but a freestanding tub. All are quieter, being the other side of the main building from the big road.

Unfortunately you cannot be guaranteed the room of your choice (only request), but if you book a deluxe you will be more than satisfied.