Detailed Review
The Grand Hotel Baglioni (5 star luxury) perfectly combines class and modernity: it is furnished with valuable antiques and offers guests all the comforts of a prestigious hotel in unique surroundings.
The 125 well-kept, spacious, air-conditioned, soundproofed rooms are cosy, and at the same time, refined. The "I Carracci" restaurant offers traditional cuisine, with an eye to typical regional dishes.
The exceptional surroundings are further enhanced by silverware, porcelain, and glassware of fine craftsmanship. The hotel also has elegant conference rooms, equipped with the most modern technical equipment: the ideal setting for exclusive meetings. A private garage completes the range of services.
Independent Reviews
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"Central grand dame - spacious and frescoed - the best in the city"
Grand Hotel Baglioni
By The TI Review Team
Aaron Davies writes:
White marble, chandeliers and a grand stairway; the Grand Hotel Baglioni is more palace than hotel. Opposite the cathedral and a minute’s walk from Piazza Maggiore, this is Bologna’s finest hotel. Taking up a part of the Palazzo Fava, it wears its history with pride – there are Roman remains near the bar, frescoes by Caracci throughout and one of Bologna’s 23 leaning towers overlooks the terrace.
The Baglioni certainly lives up to its sobriquet and carries off this unashamedly luxurious interior decoration with some style. Everything here is on a grand scale; palatial corridors are wide enough for ducal carriages, walls are decked out with original renaissance art and plush public spaces are dotted with antique furniture. Great double doors lead off the red-carpeted corridors into large rooms named for famous Bolognese figures. Welcoming, discrete and very helpful, the service would not be out of place in a royal’s palace. The whole place is a paean to the noble families that ran this ochre-hued city for 1000 years.
The rooms
Well-lit, quiet rooms are classically luxurious with 17th century antiques, rich fabrics and large pink marble bathrooms. August portraits from the Baglioni family’s private collection look sombrely down from the walls. Battleship-sized beds are extremely comfortable and there is a choice of different pillows tucked away in a wardrobe. Room service is efficient, although there is a tendency to tidy your belongings away into various little hidey-holes dotted around the room. The décor may be 17th century but the mod cons are definitely 21st. There’s a flatscreen TV and WiFi in all rooms and the long, deep bath doubles as a Jacuzzi. Bathroom goodies (and there are plenty of those) are all by Baglioni and come in sleek little black bottles. If you can, ask for suite 401; sloping ceilings and a fireplace lend it an intimate, romantic feel. If money’s no object book the Royal Suite. It has hosted Princess Di and the Dalai Lama, and is the last word in opulence.
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