Park Hotel Villa Grazioli

Park Hotel Villa Grazioli Review

One of the region's most famous residences, this elegant patrician villa halfway between Frascati and Grottaferrata is now a first-class hotel, though the standard-issue guest rooms are a bit of a letdown amid the frescoed salons. Modeled after Rome's Villa Farnesina, the 1580 house was owned over the centuries by the regal Borghese and Odelscalchi families, and was nearly destroyed by bombs in World War II. The vast reception rooms on the main floor—covered with frescoes of landscapes, mythological figures, and garden scenes by eminent 17th-century painters—survived mostly unscathed. The showpiece remains the South Gallery, frescoed by Giovanni Paolo Pannini in a swirl of trompe-l'oeil scenes, a masterpiece of Baroque decorative art. The drama ends when you get to the guest rooms, with white walls and traditional furniture; rooms found in the adjacent rustic-style lodge have lovely wood-beam ceilings. The cherry on top is the luxurious Acquaviva restaurant, where you can enjoy half- or full-board plans.