One thing you’ll never have to ask if you are pleasantly ensconced in Hotel L’Orologio Roma, is the time. The hotel’s name is a dead give-away: L’Orologio, or the clock. The property (part of a portfolio of eight sophisticated hotels in Rome, Venice and Florence) is owned and operated by the Wtb Hotels Collection. (Why The Best, in case you are wondering.) The chief timekeeper, il grande capo, is a watch aficionado who has infused each of his three L’Orologio properties with a unique décor that showcases impressive, watch-related accessories and furnishings.
Elegant art works in the lobby feature classy and classic watches; a coffee table is actually a model of a jumbo, imposing Audemars Piguet watch. Photo courtesy of the hotel.
The L’Orologio Roma (a cozy 43 rooms/suites) sits in the Sant’ Eustachio neighbourhood, not too far from Largo di Torre Argentina, the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona; it is across the Tiber River from Rome’s well-known Trastevere neighbourhood and the Villa Farnesina, one of Rome’s remaining majestic Renaissance buildings. Outsize, elegant art works in the lobby feature classy and classic watches; a coffee table is actually a model of a jumbo, imposing Audemars Piguet watch. The sly floor- indicating numbers above the elevator, as it time travels, light up in a clever display of watch gears. And the custom-designed, snowy-white tableware is accented by steel-gray or ebony numeric ciphers, tapdancing around a cup or a dish rim, while a subtle “O” embellishes dinnerplates.
Fountain of the Four Rivers, Piazza Navona. Photo: Gabriella Clare Marino/Unsplash
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On each floor, the halls are lined with stunning photos of “important” watches. Doors to the rooms sport both numbers and names, referencing a watch movement. Room 203, for example, is dubbed 2499 Perpetual, honouring a striking Patek Philippe model; in 35 years, the company produced fewer than 10 ( John Lennon owned one). The design level is of the highest quality and the attention to detail and comfort is unsurpassed, matched by the ministrations of the staff – they insisted on accompanying a guest across the street to a cash machine, in case their Italian wasn’t up to banking level.
The sly floor- indicating numbers above the elevator, as it time travels, light up in a clever display of watch gears. Photo courtesy of the hotel.
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They’ll organize custom tours – for runners, for archeology/antiquities enthusiasts, super- shoppers/fashionistas, or serious foodies. Do not pass up a cocktail in the rooftop Santa Cocktail Club Roma, where the staff make proprietary reductions and fruity botanicals. The panoramic view of Rome includes the Pantheon and the imperial Altare della Patria, better known as the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II. You’ll want time to stand still, so you can stay forever – eternally cosseted in the Eternal City.
