Casa Monti sits inside a listed 19th-century noble palace on Via Panisperna, and French designer Laura Gonzalez has made every floor feel like a collector's home rather than a hotel — clashing patterns, frescoed ceilings, hand-painted mosaics, and no two rooms the same. The ground floor runs bar to terrace restaurant, where the kitchen leans on traditional Roman dishes: cacio e pepe, duck ragù tagliatelle, fried artichoke. Up on the rooftop, a sky-blue bar with views over the Monti district does cocktails well into the evening. The spa one floor below is the only place in Rome running Susanne Kaufmann treatments, styled like ancient Roman baths and centred on a marbled jacuzzi. Rooms go bold — rich upholstery, sculptural lampshades, terrazzo floors — but comfort is taken seriously, and staff make the whole thing feel relaxed. The hotel works best when you commit to it: spa first, then cocktails, then dinner downstairs, then out into Monti for a last glass of wine.