Grand Hotel Palace by Jamie Dunford Wood

One of a string of grand hotels on the fashionable Via Veneto, this one is on the corner just up from Mussolini’s 30s government ministries and across from the US embassy. Part of the Boscolo Group, this 1920s hotel is now rather over-decorated and aimed at the European business market. The rather empty reception area is floored in marble, manned by liveried staff and decorated in rich fabrics – even the ponderous lift is upholstered. Upstairs the corridors are done up in paint-effect Roman stone. The 100 rooms are decorated in the ubiquitous rich Roman stripe, ornate fabric walls, sofas and chairs upholstered in French Empire style and busy patterned carpets. Standard rooms are small, some with showers only. Ceilings are highest on the first floor, while 5th floor rooms have had little terraces carved out of them so are slightly smaller. However, downstairs there’s a rather magnificent bar area frescoed by Cadorin with 20s flappers – one rather wishes they’d followed this theme in the bedrooms.