Hotel Hassler Roma

Hotel Hassler has no golf course and no services for golfers: to play in Rome, book directly with the club.

The historic landmark is the Circolo del Golf Roma Acquasanta on the Via Appia Nuova. The club's website calls it Italy's oldest golf club and gives 1903 as its founding year. The society already existed in 1898 with a 9-hole course near Porta Pia, until on 28 November 1903 members approved the move to Acquasanta, on land of the Torlonia princes leased for 2,900 lire a year. The course grew to 18 holes in 1913.

The 18-hole layout mixes elevation changes, water hazards and pine corridors. The club points to the view of the Claudian Aqueduct from the 7th hole, calls the 12th its most demanding for length and its right dogleg, and rates the 8th green, shaped like a «panettone», among the hardest. In 1944 the course was occupied by the Wehrmacht and spared by the Allies.

The story starts in 1885, when the Swiss Alberto Hassler, from Maladers near Chur, arrived in Rome with his family to run the Hotel New York on Via Bocca di Leone. In 1892 he bought three adjacent buildings on Piazza Trinità dei Monti from the Marquis Salviucci, and in 1893, after renovation, the Hotel Hassler opened.

In 1939 Oscar Wirth began an almost complete demolition and reconstruction of the building. From 1944 to 1947 the Allies requisitioned it as headquarters of the supreme command of the air forces. In 1999 Roberto Wirth opened Il Palazzetto, a palazzo on the steps with a wine bar and rooms. Since 2022 the hotel has been led by Roberto's children, Roberto Bucher and Veruschka Bucher Wirth.

Today there are 82 rooms and suites, each individually designed. The Hassler Penthouse has two travertine terraces, a grand piano and a stocked cocktail bar; the Villa Medici Penthouse has a 150 m² private terrace and Botticino marble floors. The Grand Deluxe Suites exceed 60 m², and the Executive Suite, about 60 m², looks over Villa Borghese.

Imàgo holds one MICHELIN star, according to guide.michelin.com. Chef Andrea Antonini serves two tasting menus that alternate great classics with newer creations, behind large windows on Rome's monuments. The hotel's website mentions a list of over 1,500 labels and a redesigned space for the restaurant's 20th anniversary. It opens Tuesday to Saturday, with arrivals between 7 and 8:30 pm.

For the rest of the day there is Salone Eva & Palm Court, with chef Marcello Romano and a traditional menu celebrating Roman flavours, and outdoor tables in summer. Also on offer are Carmen's Bar, with dark wood, golden mirrors and low light, the 7th Floor Terrace with city views and the wine bar at Il Palazzetto, above the steps.

The Amorvero Spa measures 800 m², according to the website, and offers a gym, a sauna and personalised massages and treatments. The gym is open daily from 8 am to 7:30 pm, the spa from 11:30 am to 7:30 pm.

The address is Piazza Trinità dei Monti 6, at the top of the 135-step staircase made famous by the film Roman Holiday, near Piazza di Spagna, Via dei Condotti and Villa Borghese. The hotel says Fiumicino airport is 30 to 45 minutes away by car and Termini station 15 minutes.

• 380,000 francs. The price Alberto Hassler paid in 1892 for the three buildings the hotel stands on.
• Air force headquarters. From 1944 to 1947 the hotel housed the Allied supreme command of the air forces.
• Six generations. The hotel calls itself one of Europe's legendary independently owned hotels, still in family hands.
• Crystals on the ceiling. The Presidential Suite Trinità dei Monti has Swarovski crystals set in the ceiling.
• A course with history. Among the Acquasanta's visitors the club recalls King Constantine II of Greece in 1967 and Field Marshal Montgomery.