Vol. 84 - A Roman Holiday: Hotels, Smells + Shops

The first thing you notice is that Rome is a very perfumed city. Not nature scents that waft from the umbrella pine trees or pecorino, but composed fragrances, complex concoctions, the kind of things that don’t smell like one note but a symphony or a cacophony, depending.

Before arriving there, I went straight from the airport to La Posta Vecchia in Lazio, John Paul Getty’s one time villa, located just 30 minutes outside of Rome. It’s such a good seaside, low-key option for a night or two (especially with jet lag), with a casual archeological museum in the basement and ruins in the garden, a castle down the road, and a piano player installed for dinner. There, the amenities were by LabSolue, a brand that I’d only just became familiar with while doing research for this trip. The food is good, not amazing, but everything else—from the diamond-bottom pool to the art collection to the subdued, elegant atmosphere—was top notch.

Next hotel was the Corinthia in Rome, a former bank building that’s been redone with a modern interior atrium, hidden cocktail lounge, and basement spa with heated slabs to lie by the indoor pool and sauna. The location is perfect, close to everything but quiet, would highly recommend. On my last day, got to see all the mega suites, and each one had a marble bathtub to write home about.

The rooms at the Corinthia are stocked solely with Santa Maria Novella Melograno. It’s a scent that my husband bought when we were first dating, so I have a soft spot for it, even though it’s confusing. Melograno is the Italian word for pomegranate, but there is nothing fruity about this scent. It’s powdery, slightly woody, enough of a curiosity to keep you coming back for more. I definitely like it more on a man than a woman, but in this city, it just made sense to wear it full throttle—shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion, bath salts, the works.

Even though it was almost 100 degrees, the perfumes that wafted through Rome were heavy hitters. Roses, ouds, leathers, a combination of all three. This applied to both tourists and locals, though the locals were easy to spot because the men wore linen suits, and the women soft, structured tailoring. I love the formality of this city.

Now for the shopping. Most every store I loved was concentrated on two streets, Via di Monserrato and Via della Penna, plus a few outliers near the Spanish Steps.

Via di Monserrato: Among the winding cobblestones sits Labsolue Perfume Laboratory. Tables of scents are organized by family: aromatic/herbal, flowers, resins, woods. Each perfume is named by its primary ingredient which removes a bit of mystery but does guide the nose. Each one had an upside-down funnel to sniff so you could really get in there. We were there for a LONG time. Got a hand-filled bottle of its 9 Vetiver by Fabrice Pellegrin, so dry, earthy, calm yet intense. I’m in such a vetiver moment right now.

Elsewhere on the street, got to visit Chez Dédé in person after years of stalking the IG, try on reimagined Turkish caftans at Soledad Twombly’s shop L’Archivio di Monserrato and velvet jackets with frog closures at Tre Sartre, plus heaps of gelato at Neve di Latte. A perfectly casual lunch at Caffè Perù. Fancy fish at Pierluigi. Just one street over, on Via del Pellegrino, is the cute coffee shop Barnum and several vintage stores.

Via della Penna: Was lured here by drinks in the garden at Hotel Locarno, but this tiny street near the Caravaggios in Santa Maria del Popolo holds a trove of boutique treasures: Hats at Patrizia Fabri, Thin separates and bathing suits at Laura Urbinati, and corset dresses at Atelier Bomba.

Near the Spanish Steps: Schostsal is on every Rome list for its piped pajamas, silk scarves, and the lively chatter with its proprietess Shirley from Schostal, who is newly on Substack. After viewing my husband’s socks with horror, she threw a fresh pair into our bag. Much appreciated. Bought a taffeta top/jacket at Forte Forte that I basically haven’t taken off since we landed. Gelato at Fatamorgana. Coffee granita with cream at Vitti. Lunch at Settimio all’Arancio, where we had thr best pasta of the trip: spaghetti with datterino cream, a silky yellow tomato sauce made with date tomatoes and not much else: basil, salt, olive oil. I’ve since tried to recreate using sungold tomatoes and this recipe.

The other fragrance brand I was excited to dive into further was Laboratorio Olfattivo. I had seen a few of the scents at Nose Shop in Japan, but wanted to get into all of them. Every scent is displayed with closed fans you dramatically flip open to flutter in front of your face and inhale. My top three: the truly juicy and fresh blood orange Arcania Rosso, the lemony skin scent Need U, and the honeyed incense Nektar.

Happy Weekend!

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Jamie