The pretty Hotel Kent is located in a prestigious and central position in the historical centre of Rome, just in front of the
MACRO, the great
Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome. Its
Porta Pia |
permanent collection offers a selection of some of the most significant expressions characterizing the Italian art scene since the 1960s. Works by Italian artists of international repute illustrate how Italian nationals have figured along-side key protagonists of the international art world during recent years. Artistic production during the years immediately following the Second World War is documented through the works of artists from the group Forma 1. Artists such as Carla Accardi, Antonio Sanfilippo, Achille Perilli, and Piero Dorazio imposed a pictorial vocabulary of abstraction over that of the realism dominant at the time. Sculpture experienced a parallel development as witnessed through the collections of Leoncillo and Ettore Colla. Dominant in the work of Leoncillo is a powerfully emotive language of informal materiality. Colla’s assemblage sculptures are totemic forms constructed with reclaimed materials and worn out or otherwise wasted objects from the artist’s lived experiences. MACRO’s collection also documents recent trends by key contributors to the development of the arts, to name just a few: Gianni Asdrubali exponent of the Astrazione Povera movement, Giovanni Albanese who uses irony and simulated flames to create poetic Ready-mades and mechanical inventions, and Cristiano Pintaldi who contests the structure of televised images through re-presentations in manual brushstrokes.
Just a few mt away there is
Porta Pia, the famous Gate from which, in 1870, passed the italian soldiers “Bersaglieri” to gain the Italian Unity. The 3 star Hotel Kent is also very close to
Via Veneto,
Villa Borghese |
one of the main streets of Rome, well-know all over the world for the most famous Fellini’s movies, “
La dolce vita”, describing its “sweet life” during the 60s. On the top of Via Veneto, just ten minutes far from the hotel, you'll see the main park of Rome:
Villa Borghese. This villa is a beautiful and extended park, characterised by walkways, woods (it contains 400 newly-planted pine trees, garden sculptures by Bernini's father, Pietro, and dramatic water works built by Giovanni Fontana) and lakes (in the centre of the park is the "Giardino del Lago" in which stays an artificial lake complete with an Ionic temple to Aesculapius, the god of health, by the 18C architect Antonio Asprucci). From
Belvedere Pincio there is a magnificent view of the town. In this area you can visit three important Museums of Rome: the National Gallery of Modern Art (which includes works by Goya, Renoir, Van Gogh, Degas, Monet, and many more) the Etruscan Museum and the
Borghese Gallery with the famous baroque sculptures by Bernini. A part of the Villa is dedicated to the recently
Trevi Fountain |
renewed Zoo (Bioparco), destination loved by adults and children. Another famous and charming Villa close to the Hotel Kent is
Villa Torlonia: It was designed by the neo-Classic architect Giuseppe Valadier. Construction began in 1806 for the banker Giovanni Torlonia and finished by his son Alessandro.
Disused for a time, it became Mussolini rented it from the Torlonia for one lira a year to use as his state residence from the 1920s onwards. It was abandoned after 1945, and allowed to decay in the following decades,
but recent restoration work has allowed it to be opened to the public. Part of the Torlonia family collection of classical sculpture is now housed at the villa.Surrounding the villa are landscaped grounds in the English 'picturesque' style, which became a public park in 1978. In these gardens are to be found 3rd and 4th century Jewish catacombs and thirteen garden pavilions representing exotic parts of the world (including a kiosk in the Moorish Revival taste). The area in which is the Hotel Kent is very well equipped with public transportation:
many and frequent buses are available in order to connect you to the most important sights of Rome. Two of these are the
Trevi Fountain and the
Spanish Steps. The Trevi Fountain is a Baroque masterpiece and the Spanish Steps are one of Rome’s most famous sight of the Eternal City due to their popularity as meeting point and to the position at the heart of the city’s shopping area.
The Hotel Kent is also close to the Subway stop “Castro Pretorio” (Line B), guarantee of quick transfer to all the areas of Rome.
So, let’s start visiting Rome from the Hotel Kent and have a nice holiday!
