Hotel Quirinale by Jamie Dunford Wood

The Quirinale is a useful choice of hotel for those who want the luxury of a suite without the prices of the Via Veneto. The ordinary doubles can be very ordinary, decorated in somber colours with worn and uninspiring furnishings and plain bathrooms - often shower only. The hotel does a lot of business with tour groups, which is where most of these rooms go. However, the hotel has some wonderful junior suites and suites which are done up in traditional classic Roman style - not the current obsession with red and gold striped fabrics, but simple paneled cream walls, old parquet floors, old fashioned lamp shades and unfussy early empire furnishings. The feel is Roman Holidays 1950s, a theme carried on downstairs with the rich red swagged curtains of the salone behind the reception with its wide 50s glass doors and series of 18th beauties on the walls. Behind is a wonderful quiet garden and breakfast terrace. The building is an old Roman palace on the busy and commercial Via Nazionale, but in truth it's much more central than the more fashionable Via Veneto, between the Trevi Fountain, the Piazza Republica and the Piazza Venezia, who's monument is visible at the end of the street.