This New Hospitality Brand Gives Guests the Key to Rome’s Most Exclusive Apartments

Sometimes a hotel just won’t cut it. Perhaps you’re traveling with a group, want more privacy or are planning an extended stay and want a place that feels like home.

Enter the Grand House, a new hospitality brand that is opening the doors to Rome’s most prestigious residences while providing the high-touch services you’d expect from a five-star hotel. The brand is currently soft launching with seven apartments in Rome, including a three-bedroom pied-à-terre owned by an art collector in a historic building just steps from the Pantheon and a five-bedroom abode in a Renaissance palazzo on Piazza Mattei that has been the seat of the aristocratic Costaguti family for centuries. Needless to say, you won’t find anything like them on Airbnb. At the Costaguti home, for example, period details like original frescoes, terra cotta floors, marble fireplaces and crown molding are juxtaposed with contemporary art and midcentury furnishings by the likes of Charles and Ray Eames, Verner Panton and Achille Castiglioni.

Massimo and Maurizio Micangeli, whose father Lamberto was the president of the Compagnia Italiana dei Grandi Alberghi (CIGA)—the world’s first chain of luxury properties, which was acquired by Starwood and essentially became what is now known as the Luxury Collection—masterminded the project, and it’s fair to say that the hospitality business runs in their blood.

“Our privileged access to incredible properties is only thanks to the power of the network and good relationships that our family has nurtured over the years and over generations,” Massimo Micangeli told Muse. “Our invaluable network is also international and will help us grow and offer our unique selection of services and tours in other locations in Italy such as Milan and Florence; and also in other major capitals of the world like New York and Paris.”

Guests who stay at one of the Grand House’s apartments get 24/7 concierge service and access to exclusive tours of Rome’s most incredible sites through a network of trusted guides. The Micangelis have also partnered with Cristina Bowerman, Rome’s only female Michelin-starred chef, to provide special dining options. Should guests want to host a dinner party, for example, Bowerman’s team will prepare it. Guests can also visit Testaccio Market with Bowerman herself and learn all about the local specialties.

A clubhouse known as the Grand Club will provide a dedicated space for guests to relax, work, enjoy a drink or afternoon tea and meet with a travel advisor. The space—curated by modern art collector Ines Musumeci Greco—will also function as a luggage deposit, where guests who have a late flight can leave their bags after they’ve checked out. The Grand Club is slated to open at the end of March and the brand plans to expand to Florence and Milan by 2020.