The name may be more suited to a new model of SUV, but don’t let that put you off. Roman apartment-hotel G-Rough has plenty of pulling power despite a very old chassis — the building on Rome’s historical race-track shaped Piazza Navona was built in the 1600s and remodelled two centuries later. The interior design of the hotel leaves plenty of the storied architecture on show. “Contemporary nostalgia” is G-Rough’s pitch (it’s another modern renovation to make wallpaper executives reach for the desk drawer revolver) and layers of history are revealed on its bare walls. Onto this canvas, owners Emanuele Garosci and Gabriele Salini have placed the Made in Italy collection — a curated selection of Italian design from the 1930s to the ’50s.

The traditionally higgledy-piggledy floor plan of the Roman building gives wandering around a pleasantly exploratory feeling, with lovely surprises waiting around every corner. Like its sister venue PalazzinaG in Venice, G-Rough promises an insider’s experience of the city — an experience that begins with the very bones of the hotel itself.

Photography, Claudio Sabatino