Discover One Of Rome’s Most Fabled Streets And Its Cool Insider Hotels

If you’re looking for the Rome of the Romans, you don’t have to travel to an obscure part of the Eternal City to find it; just head to the Via Margutta, a few steps from such tourist magnets as the Piazza di Spagna and Piazza del Popolo. Long a haven for artists, composers and painters—Federico Fellini lived here; Pablo Picasso painted in one of its studios—the street, very much in the center of things, but conveniently removed from the city’s engrossing exuberance, retains a 19th-century bohemian charm and an eclectic assortment of boutiques, workshops and galleries, where owners are often behind the counter, or if not, nearby in a backroom working on or ordering up some beautiful piece. Margutta enjoyed worldwide fame in the 1950s thanks to Roman Holiday, although it remains a lesser-known address for many visitors today.

Alberto Moncada di Paternò has strong ties to Margutta—not only did he grow up here, his family has owned a chunk of the street for centuries, and long played a part in its artistic history. In recent years he’s been putting his own indelible stamp on Margutta and the Italian hotel industry, most recently with Margutta 19, a five-star boutique hotel launched in 2017, offering a contemporary take on luxury with competitive five-star pricing. It is his second lodging foray on the fabled street.

An advertising executive in London and New York before returning to Rome, Moncada is an urbane hotelier who seems to speak whatever language he needs to with disarming ease, and wears his aristocratic heritage lightly (he’s a count; his great-grandfather was a marchese). He knows luxury, having marketed and grown up with it; a conversation with him can swerve effortlessly from a casual reference to a family castle that was once rented to a major movie star to the fast-changing dynamics of the Rome travel scene during Covid.

What he well knows about luxury is how it changes, and that high-end travelers today are often looking for more than high thread-count sheets and rare-wood flooring when they book a place; how they hope to find unique connections to wherever they decide to stay—and preferably those places will come with a special history, a compelling back story, a rootedness to place. “Many sophisticated travelers are seeking a true local experience,” says Moncada “I [want] my guests to feel they have not entered just another hotel, but that they are being exposed to a different and authentic Roman reality.”

When staying on Via Margutta you can feel as if you might soon be starring in your own version of Roman Holiday. After all, you’re not far from where Gregory Peck, as journalist Joe Bradley, had an apartment (Margutta 51), in the William Wyler film, which also starred Audrey Hepburn. At Moncada’s Margutta 19 you can settle into one of the spacious suites (545 square feet for a deluxe), or a one-bedroom garden suite with its own terrace and private entrance, before exploring the cobblestone street lined with persimmon-colored palazzi. Stop by Margutta 110 and see the plaque commemorating where Fellini lived, then head to one of his favorite caffés, Canova, in the nearby Piazza del Popolo for an espresso.

Down the road at Moncada’s Margutta 54, you’ll find the courtyard studios, former artist ateliers built by Moncada’s great-, great-grandfather, Marchese Francesco Patrizi, in the mid 1800s, and once the site of an influential artist’s group, the Associazione Artistica Internazionale, These are large spaces (up to 840 square feet), some of which can be combined for what will seem like your own pied-à-terre in the heart of Rome. Next door at 53B is is where Picasso once had his studio.

Moncada has been a pioneer in developing contemporary boutique hotels in Rome, properties often located in historic structures, founding his company Rome Luxury Suites in 2007. After Margutta 54, he opened Babuino 181 and Mario de’ Fiore 37, both four-star lodgings in prime nearby locations. (Other notable boutique hotels in the immediate area include Fendi Private Suites in the Palazzo Fendi, which Moncada manages; Portrait Roma, part of the Lungarno Collection, is owned by the Ferragamo family.)

Space can be at a premium in historic buildings in downtown Rome, so in boutique hotels it’s devoted to the rooms and suites rather than vast lobbies. But you probably won’t need one— Moncada says he urges his guests to mix and mingle in this endlessly fascinating city’s restaurants, caffés, and cocktail bars rather than spend time in a hotel’s common area. He wrote a detailed and charming guide in notebook format, available free to guests, to help you do so.

One area you’ll want to spend time in at Margutta 19 is the stylish restaurant Emme, on the ground floor of the property. Sleekly designed and flanked by a heated (in cool weather) garden room, Emme has been attracting both Roman regulars and the hotel’s international clients since it opened in 2019 shortly before the pandemic. For many restaurants, customers can fall into one category or the other—a favorite spot of locals, or one sought out by out-of-towners, but Moncada likes that both groups overlap here. “You need that in a successful restaurant,” he says. “Romans are happy to see the international clientele; the travelers want to see Romans dining.” Emme has a new chef, Vincenzo Mobilio, a talented maestro who trained at top hotels before working for Rome Luxury Suites.

The menu at Emme adheres to Roman culinary traditions, says Mobilio. He updates his dishes by experimenting with cooking techniques, researching ingredients for the most memorable flavor profiles, and by seeking out produce from top food artisans throughout Italy. One of Mobilio’s signature dishes, spaghetti Emme, very much represents the lengths he’ll go to for authentic flavors. When complimented on its delicious preparation, he mentions how he personally returned to his native Basilicata a few days earlier to find the best peperone crusco for the recipe.

If you can’t decide on which of the Roman pasta trifecta to order—carbonara, cacio e pepe, or amatriciana—Emme will provide you a sampling of all three, nicely presented in small copper pots. Dishes are beautifully plated, whether it’s a tuna tartare or the divinely decadent tortina al cioccolato. A fruit-tart birthday cake that arrived at a table close to where I was sitting looked almost too beautiful to eat. Emme also has nicely curated taglieri, or tasting boards, that include a sampling of cheeses, salumi or fish appetizers, tapas, and a taste of three different pastas to accompany aperitifs.

While you’ll find it hard to resist the cooking at Emme, Moncada’s Roman notebook will guide you to other delectable spots, along with historic sites and shops close to the hotel. It’s a well thought-out collection of insider favorites, the addresses he says he likes to recommend to friends. Rome Luxury Suites can also arrange for bespoke tours and specialized experiences in the Eternal City. “My idea is to create memories for our guests through authenticity and engagement that can last a lifetime,” he says.