The Westin Excelsior, Rome

The hotel stands on Via Vittorio Veneto, the glamorous curve of avenue that defined la dolce vita and remains one of Rome's most storied addresses. Step outside and you're in the Ludovisi quarter, where Belle Époque elegance meets the baroque gravity of papal Rome. The street itself climbs toward the Aurelian Walls and Villa Borghese, passing cafés where Fellini once lingered and embassy gates draped in wisteria. Piazza Barberini lies just south, its Triton Fountain spouting water sculpted by Bernini, while the Spanish Steps descend westward into the tangle of cobbled lanes that funnel toward the Tiber.

Rome's history unfurls in every direction. Founded in 753 BC according to legend, the city has been inhabited for over three millennia, its monuments layering Roman Republic over Etruscan settlement, Renaissance palazzo over medieval tower. The Ludovisi neighbourhood itself sits on what was once the ancient Horti Sallustiani, pleasure gardens of the imperial age. Vatican City, the world's smallest sovereign state and heart of the Catholic Church, lies three kilometres west across the river. The Historic Centre of Rome, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, begins just two kilometres south, encompassing the Forum, the Colosseum, and the tangle of rioni that form the Eternal City's core.

Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport sits 23 kilometres southwest, connected to Termini station by direct rail, from where taxis reach Via Veneto in minutes.

La Pergola, Rome's only three-Michelin-starred restaurant, commands a hilltop terrace 3.8 kilometres north, its dining room now refurbished in travertine marble and Roman red. Closer in, Acquolina holds two stars just over a kilometre away near Piazza del Popolo, its contemporary dining room delivering creative Mediterranean plates with dynamic service. Enoteca La Torre, another two-starred address, occupies an Art Nouveau villa two kilometres northwest along the Tiber, blending Renaissance and Baroque architecture with inventive seasonal cooking. Book a table at any of these well ahead. For provisions, the Mercato Nomentano and Campo Marzio markets both lie within 1.1 kilometres, their stalls piled with pecorino, artichokes, and flowers.

Villa Borghese sprawls just uphill, its umbrella pines shading Bernini sculptures and Caravaggio canvases in the Galleria Borghese. The Trevi Fountain gushes less than a kilometre southeast, perpetually mobbed yet impossible to skip. The Pantheon's dome, still the world's largest unreinforced concrete span after 19 centuries, sits 1.5 kilometres south. For a deeper excavation of Rome's past, Villa Adriana and Villa d'Este both lie 24 kilometres east in Tivoli, the former a sprawling 2nd-century imperial retreat, the latter a Renaissance masterpiece of cascading water gardens.

July and August blaze hot, temperatures climbing past 30°C, the city emptying as Romans flee for the coast and the light turning white and harsh over travertine and terracotta. September cools to the mid-twenties, the crowds thinning and the ochre wash of afternoon sun returning to illuminate baroque facades without the shimmer of high summer.

Spring arrives incrementally. March sees temperatures in the mid-teens, rain showers still frequent, but wisteria beginning to drape over courtyard walls. May warms into the low twenties, the city at its most photogenic, tables spilling onto every piazza, the air soft enough for evening walks without a jacket.

Winter is mild but damp, daytime highs around 11°C in January, the occasional clear cold morning gilding the ruins in sharp relief. October through December brings the year's heaviest rain, but also the lowest hotel rates and the quietest cobblestones, if you don't mind an umbrella.