Spend a night at the renovated Villa Medici, ‘one of Rome’s greatest sleepover experiences’

One of the best pieces of real estate in Rome actually belongs to France. The Villa Medici, a Renaissance villa, sits in the heart of the Italian capital, high up on Mount Pincio, with seven hectares of gardens and commanding views of the city. In 1803, after acquiring the villa, Napoleon Bonaparte made it the new home of the French Academy in Rome. Since then, it has welcomed a long series of French artists-in-residence, including Ingres, Fragonard and Debussy. In 2009, the Villa Medici began allowing the general public to spend a night or more in its guest rooms. Six of these rooms have now been completely renovated, boosting the appeal of one of the greatest sleepover experiences in the Eternal City.

The instigator of this revamp is Sam Stourdzé, who arrived here as director in 2020 (and has since commissioned a series of interior ‘re-enchantments’ at the property, including one by India Mahdavi). ‘The building is an absolute beauty, but the furnishings were lacking,’ he says. ‘Whenever somebody came to visit, they'd go directly to the window and admire the view.’ Part of the Academy's mission is to be a place for research, and a showcase for French arts and craft, so he says it was key to ‘reactualise its appearance, bringing it firmly into the 21st century’.

He launched the villa's most ambitious makeover since the French artist Balthus, who served as director from 1961-1977, and redid the gorgeous patina on the walls. The six rooms (in fact, seven, as one is still under construction) and two gardens are the second phase of a planned three-stage renovation.

An open competition was held for teams of architects and designers. The winners brought along 38 other arts and crafts professionals – an entire ecosystem of master glassworkers, cabinetmakers, decorative painters, enamelists and more.

The rooms all measure around 45 sq m, with herringbone brick floors, a double-height coffered wooden ceiling, and a mezzanine reached by a spiral staircase. All but one is linked by an elevated walkway, with windows offering an expansive view of Rome on one side and the gardens on the other. Once similar, now each room is totally unique.

The design duo Sabourin Costes redesigned the largest one, naming it ‘Isola’, an island for contemplation and creation. They opened up the space, tore down walls and removed the spiral staircase, for a clean overall effect, emphasising the stunning vistas outside. The central element is a large table made of dense ‘mélèze’ wood, perfect for writing, drawing, eating or sharing ideas.

The smallest room, ‘Stratus Surprisus’, was realised by Constance Guisset to be cosy, embracing and full of surprises. The walls, by a decorative plaster designer, are an homage to Balthus, coated with a mix of marble powder and plaster, in colours of pale blue, chestnut and mocha, and a play of matte and brilliance. In one corner, five blown glass ‘stones’ provide soft lighting while referencing the Medici coat of arms.

The room named ‘Il cielo in una stanza’ is a walk through Rome by Italian designers Studio Zanellato/Bortotto, who worked with ‘grand feu’ enamellers. Fire-glazed copper tiles on the wall behind the spiral staircase are green like the pines outside. Fireclay bricks form a handrail and balustrade in a semi-open pattern like a brise-soleil. On the kitchen wall, travertine alternates with cement in a pattern reminiscent of ancient Roman masonry techniques.

‘Camera Fantasia’ is a riot of perspectives by Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard of Studio GGSV. They brought in an Italian specialist in micro-paper pulp who coated the kitchen walls in a swirling black-and-white pattern like stone, while a decorative painter covered the other walls in dreamy cloud-like forms. The result is both remarkable and sustainable. ‘Two kilos of paint and eight kilos of paper pulp allowed us to create a practically virtual architecture,’ says Villard.

‘Pars pro toto’, by architects Eliane Le Roux and Miza Mucciarelli, is a microarchitecture of curves and arches inspired by the Villa Medici, of which one ornamental façade is visible outside the window. The walls are treated with a velvety ‘Malta Antica’ mortar traditionally used in historical palaces. One particularly enchanting detail is an antique chest of drawers with three missing knobs replaced by stones from the property cast in bronze.

The room called ‘Studiolo’, by designers Sébastien Kieffer and Léa Padovani, is separate from the others, and the only room with a single window. Its decor is inspired by Antonello da Massina's 1475 painting Saint Jerome in His Study, with a two-storey wooden structure and arched cut-outs evocative of a church organ. With the kitchen walls painted a vivid green, the room creates the surreal sense that you might indeed be in a painting.

Pricewise, the six rooms are surprisingly reasonable, starting at €280 per night. The catch is in snagging a reservation, as priority is given to the Villa Medici's cultural collaborators. Start two months or more in advance, write an email, make a call, and hope to get lucky on an empty night. August is your best bet, when no exhibitions are underway.

Know that this is not a hotel experience – there's no reception desk, no room service, no elevators (it's definitely not accessible). That said, there’s nothing like an evening alone in the magical gardens with a bottle of Barolo and all of Rome spread at your feet. If you want a glimpse of life as a Renaissance cardinal, this is just the ticket.

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