Hassler Roma — A 2026 Review: The Spanish Steps Palace Under the Sixth Wirth Generation

I checked into the Hassler Roma on the afternoon of February 8, 2026 for a four-night stay across two room categories — three nights in a Deluxe Double Room on the fourth floor with a Spanish Steps view (Room 412, EUR 1,650 per night before tax and service in the late-winter shoulder window), then one night in the Hassler Penthouse Suite on the eighth floor for a single-night anchor stay (EUR 22,400 for the night). Rate paid, no comp, no press rate, paid revenue settled at checkout on February 12.

The Hassler Roma is in its 133rd year of operation as of 2026 — Mr. Hassler purchased the palazzo in 1893 to establish the hotel after the Wirth-Bucher family hospitality dynasty had moved from Naples to Rome in 1890 — and the property is on its 79th year since the post-war 1947 reopening under Oscar Wirth’s rebuilt structure. The principal question for this stay was whether the property has held its position as the canonical Rome Palace through the transition from Roberto E. Wirth (the fifth-generation owner-operator who led the property from 1985 through his death in June 2022) to the sixth generation under his twin children Veruschka B. Wirth and Roberto Wirth Jr., who together have run the property since 2022.

The transition has been the most consequential leadership event at any Rome Palace in the past two decades, and the property has continued to operate at the reference register through the post-Roberto cycle. The short answer is that the Hassler is still the canonical Rome Palace and is the property I would book first for a stay anchored on the historical-Rome inheritance and the Spanish-Steps-top position. The longer answer is the rest of this review.

Quick answer

The Hassler Roma remains the canonical Rome Palace through the post-2022 transition under the sixth Wirth generation. The Spanish-Steps-top position is the property’s defining structural asset — the view from the principal Spanish-Steps-facing rooms is the most architecturally significant single view from any Rome hotel — and the rooftop Imago restaurant under chef Andrea Antonini’s mature programme (one Michelin star, eighth year under Antonini’s direction in 2026) is the highest-rated in-house Palace-tier dinner in central Rome by view orientation. The qualifications: the property’s hardware is structurally a generation older than the new-build LVMH-Bvlgari and IHG-Six Senses properties that opened in 2023, and the ongoing refresh programme is the structural correction that the Hassler is running through the post-Roberto cycle; the F&B programme outside Imago is competent but is not the strongest broader F&B at any Rome Palace; the property is owned independently by the Wirth family, which is the structural distinction from the major-brand alternatives and which creates the operating culture that defines the property. For a stay anchored on the canonical Rome Palace inheritance, the Hassler is the answer; for everything else, the alternatives are the Bvlgari (contemporary brand-luxury), the Six Senses (wellness-anchored), the Hotel de Russie (secret-garden Rocco Forte), the Hotel Eden (Dorchester Collection at Via Veneto), and the J.K. Place Roma (boutique-Palace at smaller scale).

Location and arrival

The Hassler Roma occupies the structure at Piazza Trinita dei Monti 6 at the top of the Spanish Steps in the Campo Marzio rione of central Rome. The address is the property’s defining structural asset — the Spanish Steps (the Scalinata della Trinita dei Monti, built 1723-1725 by Francesco de Sanctis under the funding of the French diplomat Etienne Gueffier) descend directly from the property’s principal terrace toward the Piazza di Spagna at the base of the steps, and the church of Trinita dei Monti (Santissima Trinita dei Monti, built 1502-1585 under French royal patronage) is the property’s eastern neighbour at the top of the steps.

Five-minute walks from the property reach the Spanish Steps, the Piazza di Spagna, the Keats-Shelley House at the base of the steps, the Villa Medici (the French Academy in Rome), the Pincian Hill, the Via dei Condotti, and the principal Rome retail spine of the Via dei Condotti and Via del Babuino. Ten-minute walks reach the Piazza del Popolo (and the Hotel de Russie at the southwestern corner of the piazza), the Borghese Gardens, the Mausoleum of Augustus (and the Bvlgari Hotel Roma on the eastern side of Piazza Augusto Imperatore), the Trevi Fountain, the Via Veneto (and the Hotel Eden at Via Ludovisi), the Quirinale, and the Trinita dei Monti church.

Fiumicino airport is approximately 40 to 60 minutes by car depending on time of day; Ciampino is 30 to 45 minutes; the property runs a transfer fleet of Mercedes S-Class and Range Rover Autobiography vehicles with the option of the Mercedes V-Class for principal-plus-staff configurations. Transfer pricing runs roughly EUR 220 to EUR 340 each way to Fiumicino and EUR 180 to EUR 260 to Ciampino. The Termini railway station is approximately 12 minutes by car from the property.

The principal arrival sequence is via the property’s principal entrance on Piazza Trinita dei Monti, with the doorman corps in the Hassler’s signature livery handling the arrival and the bell corps running the luggage. The principal lobby is a heritage-classical space with the restored 1947-era plasterwork programme (the property was substantially rebuilt by Oscar Wirth in 1939 and reopened in 1947 in its current form); the lobby has been the subject of incremental refresh programmes across the past decade and is structurally a more conservative interior register than the contemporary-design Palaces in the city.

On my February 8 arrival, kerb to chair was 28 seconds and chair to suite door was 4 minutes 30 seconds including the elevator ride to the fourth floor and the floor butler introduction. The check-in is conducted at the principal desk in the lobby with the manager-on-duty handling the suite-level registrations; the seated check-in is run in the adjacent salon for the suite and signature-category guests.

The property in context

The Hassler Roma’s published inventory is approximately 87 rooms and suites across the principal building, structurally a smaller property than the major new-build Rome Palaces (the Bvlgari at 114 rooms, the Hotel Eden at 98 rooms, the Six Senses at 96 rooms) and approximately in line with the J.K. Place Roma at 30 rooms only in scale of smaller boutique register (the Hassler is structurally a different scale than the J.K. Place but is structurally smaller than the de Russie at 120 rooms). The principal building’s footprint sits on the Piazza Trinita dei Monti structure with the Imago rooftop restaurant on the sixth floor, the principal accommodation on floors 2 through 7, and the Penthouse Suite on the eighth floor.

The property is owned independently by the Wirth family — the sixth generation in 2026 under Veruschka B. Wirth and Roberto Wirth Jr., who together inherited the property from their father Roberto E. Wirth in June 2022 — and is one of the last independently-owned Palace hotels in Rome. The independent-ownership structure is the property’s defining operating distinction and is the structural reason that the Hassler’s operating culture is more conservative, more service-tradition-anchored, and more longitudinally-stable than the major-brand alternatives in the city. The Wirth family’s connection to Rome dates to 1890 when Heinrich Wirth was sent to Rome from Switzerland by his father-in-law Franz-Josef Bucher to manage the Grand Hotel de la Minerve; Heinrich’s son Oscar Wirth joined the Hassler in 1921 as the partner of Albert Hassler and substantially rebuilt the property in 1939, reopening in 1947 as the post-war Hassler under Oscar’s general management.

The current senior management at the Hassler runs under the Wirth family direction with the operating senior team including the general manager Daniela Pizzicannella, the executive chef at Imago Andrea Antonini, the executive chef at Salone Eva Marcello Romano, and the long-serving senior front-of-house and butler corps. The property has run a notable staff continuity programme across the post-2022 transition — most of the senior front-of-house and the principal F&B leadership are unchanged from the Roberto E. Wirth era — and the property’s published staff-to-guest ratio runs approximately 2.0 staff per guest at full occupancy, which is in line with the Roman Palace tier average but is structurally lower than the Aman-style brands.

Room tier walkthrough

Deluxe Doubles and the entry-tier categories

The entry tier — the Deluxe Double Rooms, 30 to 45 square metres, from EUR 1,200 per night in the low-season January-February window to EUR 2,400 per night in the high-season May-October window. The category is on floors 2 through 5 of the principal building with units in the Spanish-Steps-facing orientation, the Piazza Trinita dei Monti-facing orientation, and the interior-court orientation. The Spanish-Steps-facing units are the most heavily booked in the entry tier and run approximately 20 to 30 per cent premium on the interior-court equivalents.

I occupied Room 412 on the fourth floor for the first three nights of this stay — a Spanish-Steps-facing Deluxe Double of approximately 38 square metres with a small Juliet balcony overlooking the steps and the Piazza di Spagna in the middle distance. The room layout: queen bed against the eastern wall, a sitting area in the principal room footprint with a sofa and a small armchair, an integrated dressing area, and a marble bathroom in the property’s Carrara specification with a tub-and-shower combination configuration (the entry-tier bathrooms run a combination configuration rather than the freestanding-tub-and-separate-shower of the larger categories).

The room hardware is structurally a generation older than the new-build Rome Palaces — the Hassler’s principal accommodation programme was refreshed in the 2010s under the late Roberto Wirth’s programme and is now running on the older interior cycle ahead of the post-Roberto refresh programme that the current management has begun to roll out across the property. The bath programme has been refreshed across the recent operating cycles and is current; the room-side technology (the in-room control panel, the TV, the lighting programme) is on the older cycle and is the principal hardware element that the in-progress refresh is targeting. The desk is structurally small (95 centimetres) and is not the right size for sustained working sessions; I moved to the room’s small sitting-area console for any laptop work during the three-night block.

Wi-Fi on the room-side Ethernet peaked at 165 megabits per second down and 142 megabits per second up — strong by central Rome Palace standards but below the equivalent at the new-build Bvlgari Hotel Roma (where I had measured approximately 380 down and 320 up in October 2024) and below the Hotel Eden post-2023 refresh (approximately 285 down and 240 up). The acoustic isolation of Room 412 was the strongest I had recorded at any historical Rome Palace this year — the property’s room walls are heavy masonry from the 1939 Wirth rebuild and the windows are double-glazed throughout, and conversation in adjacent units was inaudible at any time during the three-night block.

Premium Doubles, Junior Suites, and the mid-tier categories

The mid-tier — the Premium Double Rooms (50 to 60 square metres) and the Junior Suites (60 to 80 square metres) — from EUR 2,400 to EUR 4,800 per night depending on category, season, and view orientation. The Premium Double category is the property’s entry-Spanish-Steps category with the Spanish-Steps view through a Juliet balcony or a small terrace; the Junior Suite category adds a sitting room and a more elaborate dressing area on the same view orientation.

I have stayed in the Premium Double category on a previous visit (in September 2023, for a two-night stay) and in the Junior Suite category on another previous visit (May 2024, for a three-night stay). Both stays confirmed that the mid-tier is the property’s strongest single-category value — the Spanish-Steps view from the third- and fourth-floor mid-tier units is approximately at the same view register as the higher-floor suite categories but at materially lower rate. For a return guest who has experienced the Penthouse Suite at the apex tier and is looking for the best price-quality balance in the property, the Junior Suite is the right answer.

Salone Eva Suite, Penthouse Eva, and the signature categories

The signature tier — the Salone Eva Suite, the Penthouse Eva, and the Hassler Suite, 110 to 180 square metres, from EUR 6,400 to EUR 12,800 per night. The categories add a formal sitting room, a separate dining area, a more elaborate dressing programme, and the higher-floor view orientation. The Penthouse Eva is the property’s principal one-bedroom-and-formal-sitting-room signature suite and is the canonical signature category for a celebratory-occasion stay at the property.

The Penthouse Suite

The Hassler Penthouse Suite is the property’s apex signature accommodation — approximately 325 square metres (roughly 3,500 square feet) on the eighth floor of the principal building with a wraparound terrace and panoramic views across central Rome. The suite is configured as a two-bedroom unit with four marble bathrooms, a principal sitting room, a formal dining room for ten, a private kitchen for chef arrangements, and the wraparound eighth-floor terrace with views toward the Spanish Steps, the Piazza di Spagna, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Quirinale, the Pincian Hill, and the broader Rome skyline. Rate, EUR 18,000 to EUR 28,000 per night before tax and service depending on season and configuration.

I occupied the Penthouse Suite for the final night of this stay — a single-night anchor stay at EUR 22,400 for the February 11 night, which is the property’s late-winter shoulder rate for the suite. The suite interior: principal master bedroom with a king bed against the western wall under a Hermes-textile canopy programme, secondary bedroom with a queen configuration, principal sitting room with a Spanish-Steps-facing window programme and the Hermes-textile sofa-and-armchair configuration, formal dining area with a ten-cover dining table beneath a Murano-glass chandelier programme, and the wraparound terrace running across the eastern, southern and western edges of the eighth floor.

The terrace is the suite’s defining feature — at approximately 180 square metres of outdoor space across the three principal edges of the floor, the terrace is the most architecturally significant suite terrace at any central Rome Palace and is, in person, more architecturally controlled than the marketing images convey. The Spanish-Steps-facing eastern edge looks directly down across the steps to the Piazza di Spagna; the southern edge runs across the Via Sistina vista toward the Quirinale; the western edge takes in St. Peter’s Basilica in the middle distance and the broader western-Rome skyline. The morning service is the property’s most refined in-suite programme — the suite’s breakfast is configured for the terrace setting and runs across approximately 105 minutes with a sequenced pastry-and-fruit course, a hot-egg course, and a coffee-and-tea-and-juice closing course.

The suite’s structural distinction across the broader Rome Palace tier is the Spanish-Steps view orientation — no other Rome Palace suite has the direct-down view across the Spanish Steps and the Piazza di Spagna, and the view from the eastern terrace is the canonical Rome Palace view at the apex tier. The closest competitor by view orientation is the Penthouse Suite at the Hotel Eden with the Via Veneto rooftop view, the Bvlgari Suite at the Bvlgari Hotel Roma with the Mausoleum of Augustus view, and the Picasso Suite at Hotel de Russie with the secret-garden orientation; none of these alternatives is at the same view register as the Hassler Penthouse for the canonical historical-Rome panorama.

Dining across the property

Imago

Imago is the property’s gastronomic restaurant on the sixth floor — a 50-cover dining room with a panoramic terrace across the central Rome skyline, dinner only across the operating calendar. The restaurant holds one Michelin star (held continuously across the 2024, 2025, and 2026 cycles) and is run under executive chef Andrea Antonini, who has been in the role since 2018. The kitchen’s programme is a contemporary Italian register with a Roman-regional anchor and a tasting-menu programme that runs alongside the a la carte service.

I dined at Imago on the evening of February 10 for the six-course tasting menu at EUR 220 per person before wine and service, with a five-bottle pairing programme from the head sommelier Massimo Livi’s team at EUR 165 per person. The tasting menu on this service: an amuse-bouche of marinated branzino with a Sicilian capers composition; an appetiser of beef tartare with a tonnato sauce in the modernist register; a pasta course of rigatoni alla carbonara reimagined in Antonini’s signature programme; a fish course of John Dory with a saffron-and-fennel composition; a meat course of lamb with a thyme-and-honey reduction; and a dessert programme anchored on the property’s Roman-pastry register. The kitchen’s technical execution was at the high mark of the Italian one-Michelin-star register; the rigatoni alla carbonara course is the canonical Antonini dish and was the strongest single course of the dinner.

The Imago room is the property’s most architecturally distinguished single space — the sixth-floor position with the panoramic terrace across central Rome is the most-photographed Palace-tier dinner setting in the city, and the room’s view orientation runs toward St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vittoriano monument, the Pincian Hill, and the Trinita dei Monti. The wine programme at Imago was recognised in 2024 with the Best European Wine List award by The World of Fine Wines — the cellar is anchored on a deep Italian programme with substantial Piemonte, Toscana, and Sicilian sections, and a curated broader European-and-international selection.

Salone Eva

Salone Eva is the property’s principal second restaurant — a ground-floor library-ambience room with a more intimate dinner-and-lunch tempo than the Imago rooftop, run under executive chef Marcello Romano. The room seats approximately 40 covers across the principal salon and a small adjacent space, and the menu is anchored on traditional Roman cuisine — cacio e pepe, carbonara, amatriciana, abbacchio, saltimbocca — at the elevated Palace register. The room is the property’s everyday-dining anchor and is the right answer for a Roman-traditional dinner without the Imago rooftop premium.

I lunched at Salone Eva on February 9 for a three-course traditional Roman menu — a starter of carciofi alla giudia, a primo of cacio e pepe, and a secondo of saltimbocca alla romana. The kitchen’s technical execution was at the high mark of the traditional-Roman register; the cacio e pepe was the most consistently executed I had eaten at any Roman Palace this year and is the canonical dish I would order at the property.

The room itself is the property’s second-most architecturally distinguished interior — a heritage-classical space with the library-shelf programme around the perimeter and the restored 1947-era plasterwork at the ceiling. The room is structurally an older interior register than the contemporary-design Rome Palaces and is the structural distinction from the Bvlgari and Six Senses operating cultures.

Carmen’s Bar and the bar programme

The property’s bar programme is being repositioned under the post-2024 refresh as Carmen’s Bar — the new name announced under the property’s 2025 programme — replacing the previous Hassler Bar branding. The bar’s signature cocktail programme is anchored on the property’s traditional-Roman aperitivo register with a contemporary cocktail selection running alongside; the room is structurally on the ground floor of the principal building with seating for approximately 35 across the principal bar and a small adjacent lounge.

The Palm Court is the property’s breakfast-and-afternoon-tea room — a conservatory-style space on the ground floor that runs the principal breakfast service from 07:00 to 10:30 and the afternoon tea service from 15:30 to 18:00 across the operating calendar. The breakfast service is the property’s most consistent operational programme outside Imago and is the canonical Roman Palace breakfast — the buffet-and-a-la-carte programme is anchored on the property’s pastry programme (a deep Italian-pastry selection with the property’s signature cornetti and the rotating sfogliatelle and maritozzi programme).

Spa, fitness, and the property’s wellness register

The Hassler does not have a major in-house spa programme of the scale of the new-build Rome Palaces (the Six Senses Roma’s caldarium-tepidarium-frigidarium programme at the spa is the structural reference point for contemporary Roman hotel wellness; the Bvlgari Spa is the major LVMH-led programme with the Caracalla-bath-inspired interior). The Hassler runs a smaller wellness programme through the Amorvero SPA partnership with treatment rooms on the second floor of the principal building. The treatment programme is run on Italian product partnerships with a small treatment-menu selection; the spa is not the property’s principal proposition and is structurally smaller than the Palace-tier wellness peers.

The fitness facility is a single room of approximately 65 square metres on the second floor with two treadmills, one elliptical, a small free-weight rack, and a Technogym cable-and-pulley station. The hardware is current but the room is structurally undersized for the property’s 87-key inventory at high occupancy; the property runs a complimentary external partnership with a nearby fitness facility for guests who need a fuller programme.

The compensating asset is the property’s principal location at the top of the Spanish Steps — the walk down the steps to the Piazza di Spagna and across to the Villa Borghese gardens is the property’s natural-running route, and the morning constitutional through the Trinita dei Monti and the Pincian Hill is the canonical Hassler morning programme that no spa-tier alternative in the city can match.

Service register and staff continuity

The service register at the Hassler is the most traditionally European at any central Rome Palace — the property runs a service tradition that traces directly to the post-war Oscar Wirth era and through the late Roberto E. Wirth’s 37-year tenure (1985 through 2022), and the current sixth-generation operating culture under Veruschka and Roberto Jr. has been built around the continuity of the historical Wirth operating tradition. The doorman corps wears the property’s signature livery, the front-of-house team operates on a recognition basis from a single prior stay (the property’s senior front-of-house has been notably stable across the post-2022 transition), and the suite-side service tempo is paced to the heritage-Palace register that the property has run continuously since the 1947 post-war reopening.

The independent-ownership structure is the property’s defining operating distinction and is the structural reason that the Hassler’s operating culture is more conservative, more service-tradition-anchored, and more longitudinally-stable than the major-brand alternatives. The contrast with the Dorchester-Collection-corporate register at Hotel Eden, the LVMH-Bvlgari register at the Bvlgari Hotel Roma, the Rocco-Forte register at Hotel de Russie, and the IHG-Six-Senses register at Six Senses Roma is structural — the Hassler is the only independently-owned Palace at the city’s apex tier and operates accordingly.

Comparisons across the Rome Palace tier

Hotel de Russie (Rocco Forte)

Hotel de Russie is Rocco Forte’s flagship Rome property at the southwestern corner of Piazza del Popolo at the base of the Spanish-Steps-side spine — 120 rooms across the property’s main building, the secret-garden programme between the Pincian Hill and the principal building, the Le Jardin de Russie restaurant under chef Fulvio Pierangelini, the De Russie Spa programme. It is the principal alternative for a guest who wants the Rocco Forte operating culture and the secret-garden anchor versus the Spanish Steps anchor.

J.K. Place Roma

J.K. Place Roma is Ori Kafri’s flagship Rome property on Via di Monte d’Oro near the Mausoleum of Augustus — 30 rooms across the boutique-Palace footprint, designed by Michele Bonan, the J.K. Cafe programme. It is structurally smaller than the Hassler and is the right answer for a smaller-format Palace in central Rome.

Hotel Eden (Dorchester Collection)

Hotel Eden is the Dorchester Collection’s Rome property at Via Ludovisi off the Via Veneto — 98 rooms, La Terrazza under chef Fabio Ciervo (recently awarded one Michelin star in November 2025 in the 2026 Michelin Guide Italy) and Il Giardino Ristorante also under Ciervo’s direction. It is the principal alternative for a guest who wants a Dorchester Collection operating culture and the Via Veneto anchor.

Bvlgari Hotel Roma

The Bvlgari Hotel Roma is LVMH-owned and operated under the Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts programme, opened in June 2023 on Piazza Augusto Imperatore with views of the Mausoleum of Augustus — 114 rooms, the Niko Romito Il Ristorante programme, the Bvlgari Spa with the Caracalla-bath-inspired interior programme, the Bvlgari Bar. It is the contemporary new-build alternative at the highest brand-luxury register and is the principal new-build Rome competitor to the Hassler.

Six Senses Roma

Six Senses Roma opened in 2023 in the eighteenth-century Palazzo Salviati Cesi Mellini between the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon — 96 rooms, the Notos rooftop restaurant, the Six Senses Spa with the caldarium-tepidarium-frigidarium programme inspired by the historical Roman bathing tradition. It is the wellness-anchored alternative at the contemporary tier.

Verdict on year four of the sixth-generation Wirth operation

The Hassler Roma remains the canonical Rome Palace through the post-Roberto Wirth transition. The four-night stay across the Deluxe Double and the Penthouse Suite confirmed that the Spanish-Steps-top position is still the property’s defining structural asset; the rooftop Imago restaurant under Andrea Antonini’s mature programme remains the highest-rated in-house Palace-tier dinner in central Rome by view orientation; the independent-family-ownership structure under the sixth Wirth generation is the structural reason the property continues to operate at the reference register; and the service-tradition continuity from the post-war Oscar Wirth era through the current sixth-generation operating culture is the most consistent operating culture at any central Rome Palace.

The qualifications: the property’s hardware is structurally a generation older than the new-build LVMH-Bvlgari and IHG-Six Senses properties, and the ongoing refresh programme is the structural correction that the Hassler is running through the post-Roberto cycle; the spa and fitness programmes are structurally smaller than the new-build Palace peers and are not the property’s principal proposition; the F&B programme outside Imago is competent but is not the strongest broader F&B at any Rome Palace. For a stay anchored on the canonical Rome Palace inheritance, the historic Wirth-family operating culture, and the Spanish Steps view, the Hassler is the answer in 2026, and the property is unlikely to be displaced from that position across the foreseeable Rome Palace tier evolution.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who owns and runs the Hassler Roma after Roberto Wirth’s death in 2022?

The Hassler Roma remains an independently-owned five-star luxury hotel under the Wirth family, now in its sixth generation of family ownership. Roberto E. Wirth, the fifth-generation owner and Managing Director of the property, passed away on 30 June 2022 after a long tenure at the hotel. The property has since passed to his twin children Veruschka B. Wirth and Roberto Wirth Jr., who together lead the property as the sixth generation of the Wirth family. The Wirth family connection to Rome dates to 1890 when Heinrich Wirth was sent to Rome from Switzerland as the manager of the Grand Hotel de la Minerve; his son Oscar Wirth joined the Hassler in 1921 and became partner of Albert Hassler and later the sole owner of the property after rebuilding the hotel substantially in 1939 and reopening it in 1947. The current Hassler operating company remains independently owned by the Wirth family — the property is one of the last independently-owned Palace hotels in Rome and is not affiliated with any of the major luxury chains (Dorchester Collection, Aman, Belmond/LVMH, Bvlgari/Marriott, Six Senses/IHG, Rosewood).

Does Imago still hold a Michelin star and who is the current chef?

Yes. Imago at the Hassler Roma holds one Michelin star — the rooftop restaurant has held a star continuously across the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Michelin Guide Italy cycles. The current executive chef is Andrea Antonini, who has been in the role at Imago since 2018 and runs the kitchen’s programme of contemporary Italian cuisine with a Roman regional anchor. The restaurant is on the sixth floor of the property with a panoramic terrace view across Rome — the rooftop position is the principal architectural asset of the restaurant and the structural reason the room is the most-photographed Palace-tier dinner destination in central Rome. In 2024 Imago was recognised with the Best European Wine List by The World of Fine Wines, an industry-side recognition that sits alongside the Michelin star and the broader Imago wine-programme reputation under the property’s head sommelier corps. The 2026 Michelin Guide Italy was published on November 11, 2025; the Hassler’s Michelin star status verified at guide.michelin.com under the Rome destination page.

What is Salone Eva and how does it relate to the recent F&B refresh at the property?

Salone Eva is the property’s second principal dining room — a more intimate, library-ambience space inside the main hotel building, separate from the rooftop Imago. The room is run as the property’s everyday-dining anchor with a Roman-regional menu of traditional dishes and is guided by executive chef Marcello Romano. The recent F&B refresh at the property is run alongside the broader hotel refurbishment programme that the Hassler announced for the post-2024 period; Hassler Bar (the property’s principal cocktail bar) is being reopened as Carmen’s Bar under the property’s 2025 refresh programme, named after a member of the Wirth family. Salone Eva and the broader F&B operation at the Hassler runs across three principal venues: Imago (the rooftop Michelin-starred restaurant under Antonini), Salone Eva (the ground-floor library-ambience restaurant under Romano), and the bar programme (Carmen’s Bar under the post-refresh repositioning). The room programme is supported by the Palm Court for breakfast and afternoon tea.

How does the Penthouse Suite at the Hassler compare to the apex suites at the other Rome Palaces?

The Hassler Penthouse Suite is on the eighth floor of the property with direct views across the Spanish Steps to the Piazza di Spagna and the broader Rome skyline. The suite is approximately 325 square metres (roughly 3,500 square feet) and runs a two-bedroom, four-bathroom configuration with the principal sitting room, a formal dining room, a private kitchen for chef arrangements, and a wraparound terrace at the eighth-floor level with panoramic Rome views toward St. Peter’s Basilica, the Quirinale, the Pincian Hill and the Piazza di Spagna. The interior programme uses Hermes textiles across the principal sitting and sleeping zones and the marble bathroom configurations run on the property’s Carrara specification. Rate, approximately EUR 18,000 to EUR 28,000 per night before tax and service depending on season and configuration. The Penthouse Suite is the most architecturally distinguished suite in central Rome by suite-side view orientation — the Spanish Steps view from the principal terrace is the city’s signature view from a hotel suite — and is the only credible answer at the apex Palace tier in Rome for a guest who anchors on the central historical-Rome view as the principal proposition. The closest competitors are the Penthouse Suite at Hotel Eden (Dorchester Collection) with its rooftop terrace view, the Bvlgari Suite at the Bvlgari Hotel Roma (Mausoleum of Augustus view), the Picasso Suite at Hotel de Russie (Rocco Forte) with the secret-garden orientation, and the Apex suites at Six Senses Roma with the Pantheon-area positioning.

How does the Hassler compare to Hotel de Russie, J.K. Place Roma, Hotel Eden, Bvlgari Hotel Roma, and Six Senses Roma?

Hotel de Russie is Rocco Forte’s flagship Rome property at the foot of the Spanish Steps at Piazza del Popolo, 120 rooms, the secret-garden programme between the Pincian Hill and the property’s principal building, the Le Jardin de Russie restaurant under chef Fulvio Pierangelini. It is the principal alternative for a guest who wants the Rocco Forte operating culture and the secret-garden anchor versus the Spanish Steps anchor. J.K. Place Roma is Ori Kafri’s flagship Rome property on Via di Monte d’Oro near the Mausoleum of Augustus, 30 rooms across the boutique-Palace footprint, the J.K. Cafe programme, designed by Michele Bonan. It is structurally smaller than the Hassler and is the right answer for a smaller-format Palace in central Rome. Hotel Eden is the Dorchester Collection’s Rome property at Via Ludovisi off the Via Veneto, 98 rooms, La Terrazza under chef Fabio Ciervo (recently awarded one Michelin star in November 2025) and Il Giardino Ristorante also under Ciervo’s direction. It is the principal alternative for a guest who wants a Dorchester Collection operating culture and the Via Veneto anchor. Bvlgari Hotel Roma is LVMH-owned and operated under the Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts programme, opened in June 2023 on Piazza Augusto Imperatore with views of the Mausoleum of Augustus, 114 rooms, the Niko Romito Il Ristorante programme and the Bvlgari spa with the modern-Roman bathing programme. It is the contemporary new-build alternative at the highest brand-luxury register. Six Senses Roma opened in 2023 in the eighteenth-century Palazzo Salviati Cesi Mellini between the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon, 96 rooms, the Notos rooftop restaurant, the Six Senses Spa with the caldarium-tepidarium-frigidarium programme. It is the wellness-anchored alternative at the contemporary tier. The Hassler’s structural distinction across all of these competitors is the independent-family ownership, the sixth-generation Wirth operating culture, and the Spanish-Steps-top position that the other Rome Palaces structurally cannot replicate. For a stay anchored on the canonical Rome Palace inheritance and the Spanish Steps view, the Hassler is the answer; for the alternatives, the choice runs on operating culture and the secondary anchor.

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