Orient Express La Minerva Unveils Its Signature Suites in Rome
Hugo Toro’s four new suites at Orient Express La Minerva reinterpret Roman grandeur.
Photos: Courtesy of Orient Express
Orient Express has pulled back the curtain on its first hotel’s most anticipated spaces: the signature suites at La Minerva in Rome. Designed by artist-architect Hugo Toro, the four new suites—Stendhal, La Minerva, Obelisco, and Orient Express—translate the romance of rail travel into classic Roman interiors.
Housed within the 17th-century Palazzo Fonseca, each suite reflects a different chapter of the building’s history and its dialogue with the Eternal City. Toro’s approach combines historical restoration with custom design: frescoed ceilings and travertine fireplaces meet hand-painted headboards, rose-hued fabrics, and bespoke furnishings by Italian artisans. Even the details (record players, commissioned artworks, leather backgammon sets, etc.) extend the brand’s long-standing obsession with travel as culture.
Among the four, the Orient Express Suite is the showpiece: a 2,000-square-foot retreat overlooking the Pantheon, anchored by a sculptural sofa and library designed by Toro. The Obelisco Suite nods to Piazza della Minerva’s Bernini elephant, while the La Minerva Suite channels the Roman goddess of arts and wisdom with a top-floor layout ideal for extended stays. The Stendhal Suite, named for the French writer who once stayed here, preserves its frescoed vaulted ceilings and grand proportions while maintaining the intimacy of a private residence.
The suites are also setting a new price benchmark for Rome’s luxury market—starting at 7,000 euros per night and reaching 23,000 euros for the Orient Express Suite—with inclusions that push the experience firmly into ultra-luxury territory: private transfers, full laundry service, a 60-minute spa treatment for two, and a dedicated guest experience team.
For Accor, which relaunched Orient Express as part of its top-tier collection in 2025 alongside new partnerships with LVMH, La Minerva is the foundation for a brand architecture spanning trains, yachts, and future hotels in Venice and beyond. And in a city already saturated with icons, the suites’ theatrical yet deeply local design may be what gives Rome’s newest address its staying power.
