Park Hotel Villa Grazioli
One of the region's most famous residences, this patrician villa halfway between Frascati and Grottaferrata is now a first-class hotel with frescoed halls and salons---though the guest rooms are admittedly less ornate and standard-issue. Modeled after Rome's Villa Farnesina, the house, built in 1580, was owned over the centuries by the regal Borghese and Odelscalchi families and was nearly destroyed by bombs in World War II. Luckily, 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. By contrast, the guest rooms tend to be plain, with white walls and traditional furniture; but you can opt to stay in the less formal Garden Rooms in the former Limonaia, which is just a short distance across the lawn. The elegant Acquaviva restaurant garners rave reviews and transforms into an alfresco dining venue in summer, with tables laid out on the terrace overlooking the Roman countryside, and the pool is a welcome treat on sunny days. The hotel can also provide a shuttle to and from the Frascati train station.
