Hotel Art by the Spanish Steps

Don?t expect to see any signs. The entrance is a minimalist passageway blending in chameleon-like with the many art galleries on Via Margutta. This long pedestrian corridor with walls of gleaming white marble, paved with white pebbles and lit by a creation of the artist Enzo Catellani, provides access to the hall. Once the college chapel but now deconsecrated and painstakingly restored, it offers a highly Roman blend of sacred and profane, ancient and modern. Charmingly naive golden stars twinkle against the original cobalt blue background of the cross-vaulted roof. The altar is screened with a panel of thick glass streaked with ice blue that both conceals and displays the marble. Facing this, two large eggs of white resin rise from the ancient floor of polychromatic marble to house the reception desk and the office. The hall also accommodates the tables of the small but deftly organized bar-restaurant proving a broad selection of teas and herbal infusions, buffet breakfast, a brunch that is not confined to Sundays and also features organic produce, cocktails, cold dishes and appetizers. A lounge decorated with works of contemporary art and a small courtyard fitted out as a bar are located on the same floor. The keynotes of this hotel are light and color. The corridors of the four floors housing 46 rooms and suites are picked out respectively in blue, orange, yellow and green with radiant light at the guests? entrance. The wall facings of glass and resin are in bright but transparent colors that expand the space. Minimalist milky ways stretch out along the walls of the corridors with verses of poets like Garci??a Lorca and Octavio Paz. The hi-tech furnishings and bright colors stop on the threshold of each room to make way for wood and leather. The floors are parquet and the headboards are a hand-stitched patchwork of Florentine leather. The rooms are equipped with the most sophisticated facilities including a co