Italy - 1
The Reuben brothers must have been delighted when they found the former Central Bank of Italy building on Parliament Square. Today, it's the glorious 60-key Corinthia Rome. Newly opened and still waiting, in fact, for its fine dining restaurant. GM Danillo Zucchetti has been on site since May 2024, and he regards it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to put his own mark on to an historic building. GA, who have done the design, have been considerably restrained: the upper-level lobby, beliw, is basically oatmeal-coloured – as are junior suites, with retro deep-pastel artworks with a Dégas bent.
But there some wow, don’t believe it, features. Take the 150sq m Theodoli Heritage Suite, the Sala del Consiglio where the bank’s board met. It's just sheer mouth-wateringly beautiful with 1920s Giulio Bargellini
frescoes soaring up its walls to an awe-inspiring ceiling by Guglielmo Janni depicting the history of Italian currency.
It's notable how proud the team is of everything. This is a place that has a story to tell of the past and of today. Zuchetti and his boss, Simon Naudi, have brought on board Carlo Cracco as the man in charge of all the food – Cracco’s from Vicenza and his fame comes from his restaurant in Milan’s Galleria as well as such mega-watch television shows as Hell’s Kitchen Italia and Masterchef Italia.
Dining anywhere at Corinthia Rome evokes passion for dolce vita and the past. The adjacent finer dining, Viride, is obviously more elaborate: it’s inside, looking out at the terrace. There are Ginori designs specifically for each area - for the restaurant, plates have rims that pay homage to the tiled roads all around, with a deliberately uneven tile pattern emanating from a gold outer rim. Food is beautifully composed, well-portioned and discreetly embellished without overkill. White truffle on top of lots of greenery was a particularly acclaimed dish, as was round pork belly with a langoustine on top, the whole resting on a bed of mashed potato. The kitchen inside serves both restaurants. This is definitely an hotel that looks and acts established before it's really got out of the starting gate ….
