Orient Express La Minerva, Rome, Italy

Hotel of the Year

A landmark reborn in the Eternal City, Orient Express La Minerva was named Hotel of the Year at AHEAD Europe 2025.

Blending refined residential charm with revived Roman architecture, the hotel is given a new lease of life by Hugo Toro for Accor and Barletta Group, through a masterful orchestration of heritage, craft and contemporary elegance. From the reinstated lobby skylight to sculpted bas-reliefs and travertine-lined volumes, the design unfolds as a layered narrative where centuries of architectural history meet modern refinement. Bespoke guestrooms offer sensorial sanctuaries shaped by Roman plaster walls, warm leathers, blown glass and hand-painted details, while the bar beneath a soaring glass dome channels the romance of grand travel with its poetic restraint and richly textured palette.

Throughout, the intervention is both bold and deeply respectful — a coherent transformation that restores character while introducing a fresh, atmospheric language. The result is a hotel that feels rediscovered rather than redesigned, its spaces infused with intimacy, geometry and unmistakably Italian craft.

Judges praised the project’s “melancholic beauty” and “remarkable consistency of vision,” celebrating its “beautiful warmth and layering,” “extraordinary use of geometry and pattern” and “restrained yet confident” reimagining of a Roman icon. They described it as “exceptional in every aspect,” a benchmark for how to revive history with both sensitivity and ambition.

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