You can now shop and stay at Fendi's Flagship boutique in Rome, showcasing seven elegant Private Suites at Palazzo Fendi. It's a combination of the highest standard of style, comfort and design.
The prestigious design, by the company’s furniture and interiors branch Fendi Casa, balances the elegance and heritage of the original building with modern style. "Guiding the architecture and design of the private suites was an aesthetic of strong contrasts," said Fendi in a statement. "The palace has been restored and restyled to create a temple of beautiful design and high-end luxury".
A guest needs to be sharp to spot the brand fingerprints on the decor of the Fendi Private Suites hotel on the third floor of Palazzo Fendi, a recently restored 17th-century villa that bookends Rome’s Via Condotti fashion strip to the west. The eagle-eyed will recognize Fendi in the abstract artworks (Rothko-like arrangements of the fashion house’s fur samples) and in beds, side tables, and other Fendi Casa items discreetly scattered among contemporary and vintage design pieces by names such as the Campana brothers and Gio Ponti.
Each suite is a celebration of the classic Fendi aesthetic – rich, neutral colours, crisp lines and hardwood floors. Walls are panelled in grey, polished wood, and inset with Karl Lagerfeld’s black and white photos of Rome’s fountains, an ideal backdrop that brings out the subtle playfulness of custom Fendi Casa furniture: large beds covered in white, Makò cotton satin sheets, minimalist wood-lacquered desks and rounded, leather couches in cool greys and jewel-toned velvet chairs.
Overall, this urban refuge, designed by Italian architect Marco Costanzi, feels like the spacious apartment of a Roman art collector rather than yet another fashion hotel. Fendi CEO and chairman Pietro Beccari points out that the maison’s codes are subtly embedded in elements like "geometry, dualism, color blocking, and, of course, materials and craftsmanship," but that the effort was made to create "an intimate space, a homey feeling."
"This is a home experience for a sophisticated traveller," Marco Costanzi tells Gourmet Traveller. "This is not a business hotel. When you enter from the ground
floor you have a different feeling."