47 Boutique Hotel

Set opposite Piazza della Bocca della Verità, between the Circus Maximus and Piazza Venezia, 47 Boutique Hotel occupies ground once part of the Forum Boarium, ancient Rome's river-facing market district, with the Theatre of Marcellus and the Roman Forum a short walk away. The hotel holds sixty-one rooms across five themed floors, each built around a strand of Italian culture: design objects like the Vespa and the Olivetti typewriter on the first floor, fashion on the second, sixties icons including a Pelé shirt and a Beatles record sleeve on the third, and photography by Elliott Erwitt, Steve McCurry and Helmut Newton on the fourth. It is a compact stay, but rarely a plain one. The fifth floor holds nine rooms with private terraces, two of them suites with views over the Forum Boarium. Downstairs, the 47 Circus Roof Garden restaurant and cocktail bar looks out over ancient Rome from the sixth floor, while the ground-floor bistro runs on a 1920s theme. Guests can use a gym, Turkish bath, private cinema for up to thirty people and a billiard room. The hotel was the first in Rome to hold Green Globe certification, covering renewable energy, LED lighting and a plastic-reduction programme across its rooms.