Hotel of the Week: Director Luca Guadagnino Makes His Grand Debut as a Hotel Designer

Rome's Palazzo Talìa reflects the talent's inspired vision with a 26-room beauty featuring a restaurant, spa, and Terrace Suite

September 13, 2024

In the past two months Luca Guadagnino premiered his new film “Queer,” starring Daniel Craig, at the Venice Film Festival, served as art director of the biennial Homo Faber exhibition in that same city, and made his debut as a hotel designer. One would be forgiven for thinking the creative impresario, who launched his interior design firm studiolucaguadagnino in 2017, had already dabbled in hospitality design. The firm’s portfolio, after all, boasts multiple luxurious residential and commercial interiors. But the 26-room Palazzo Talìa in Rome is in fact his first foray in that category. And if the hotel were a film, it would no doubt sweep the awards circuit.

Housed in a 16th century building that was once the esteemed Nobile Collegio del Nazareno, the property, named after the daughter of Zeus, is now owned by Elia Federici, founder and CEO of real estate developers Gruppo Fresia. Federici tapped Guadagnino to design the public spaces, restaurant, bar, spa, and Terrace Suite of Palazzo Talia (the rooms were designed by Marianna Lubrano Lavadera of Mia Home Design Gallery, with Laura Feroldi Studio). “The notion of working with a director and having a space like this, theatrical and unbridled, is what struck me,” noted Federici of the choice. “I admire [Luca’s] keen aesthetic sensibility, evident not only in his films but also in his absolute modernity, attention to detail, and the quintessential Sicilian tenacity in crafting bespoke experiences.” Pablo Molezún, project manager for studiolucaguadagnino added, “The most exhilarating aspect was pondering how to intervene in a place so steeped in history and tailor it a completely different, bespoke garment to breathe new life into the palace.”

The entry at Palazzo Talìa in Rome. Photo: Courtesy of Palazzo Talìa

Which is no small feat when the bones of the space are centuries old and boast soaring ceilings, ornate architectural details and ornamentation and original frescoes. Almost all the furniture and floor coverings were custom designed for the space. An over 12-foot-tall 1940s chandelier, by Napoleone Martinuzzi, was not. It now greets visitors upon entry in the reception area, elegantly suspended above a curvaceous, custom-designed sofa and geometric carpet in saturated gem tones. A stroll through an adjacent, quite narrow room, past a quite long studio-designed sofa, leads to the Bar della Musa (with original grotesque ceiling frescoes).

The star of the public spaces is undoubtedly the Aula Magna or “great hall.” Located on the second floor of the villa, with a 36-foot-tall ceiling, it boasts a restored 18th century gallery with clerestory windows, 18th-century frescoes by Gaspare Serenari, and two seating areas defined by round carpets in saturated hues, each set with four generously-sized armchairs. A close second is the sub-terranean spa, with its pool shimmering under a dome clad in green majolica tiles, and bonus adjacency to the Turkish bath and reimagined Swedish sauna.

The bar. Photo: Courtesy of Palazzo Taglia

And all of this house in a true refuge in the city center, just steps away from Rome’s greatest hits, including the Trevi Fountain, the Piazza del Quirinale (with the president’s residence) and Via Veneto. We’re looking forward to many repeat performances of this nature from the award-winning director, and his eponymous studio.

More images below.