Hotel Colonna Frascati

Smart hotel is good base to enjoy famous wine and explore historic towns just outside Rome

The Hotel Colonna looks out over a quaint piazza

Frascati is famous throughout the world for its light, dry, white wine but is perhaps not so well known as a holiday destination.

But the ancient city just 20 kilometres south east of Rome in the Alban Hills is a perfect base for exploring the area known as Castelli Romani.

The Hotel Colonna is an excellent choice if you want to stay right in the centre of Frascati.

Rated three star superiore, the hotel overlooks the charming Piazza del Gesù.

The 20 guest rooms are all beautifully carpeted and furnished and have immaculate, well appointed bathrooms.

The Hotel Colonna’s smart reception area is furnished with an ornate marble fireplace, white statues and comfortable armchairs to relax in.

There is an elegant frescoed breakfast room serving a buffet breakfast that includes both sweet and savoury dishes.

The hotel has a bar and a meeting room for the use of business travellers and offers internet access and free parking.

Editor’s note: “My stay at the Hotel Colonna was absolutely delightful. I had a very comfortable room and was made to feel welcome by the friendly staff. I really enjoyed being in the heart of the city and close to all the sights.”

For more information to check prices and to book a room at the Hotel Colonna go to our hotel booking partner Hotels.com

Why stay at Hotel Colonna in Frascati

  

The Hotel Colonna is an elegant, comfortable hotel right in the historic centre of Frascati.

The city has the feel of Rome, but is on a smaller scale and life seems to be lived at a less frantic pace. There are statues, fountains and wonderful architecture, but it is easy to walk around Frascati and there is little crime.

It is said that Frascati’s delicious white wine ‘non viaggia bene’ (does not travel well), which is all the more reason to drink it there, in quaint wine bars serving it cheaply by the glass.

The villas built by wealthy Romans on the hills behind Frascati now lie in ruins, but there are elegant 16th and 17th century villas in the surrounding countryside, such as the imposing Villa Aldobrandini, which overlooks the town.
Frascati is a good base for exploring other interesting old towns of the Castelli Romani such as  Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope has his summer residence and Nemi, with its beautiful lake.

You can take the train to Rome (journey time 30 minutes) to see the sights, but you will look forward to returning in the evening to sit on a terrace sipping wine, looking down over the eternal city.

What to see near Hotel Colonna in Frascati

Just a few steps from the Hotel Colonna is the 16th century Chiesa del Gesù with statues on the façade believed to be the work of Pietro da Cortona and frescoes inside by Andrea Pozzo.

Piazza del Gesù leads into the larger Piazza San Pietro, where Frascati’s main church, Cattedrale San Pietro stands. Inside the church is the tombstone of Charles Edward Stuart, also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Young Pretender. He died while in exile in Rome and was first buried in Frascati’s cathedral, where his brother, Henry Benedict Stuart, Duke of York, was Bishop. In 1807 his body was moved to St Peter’s in Rome, but his heart was left in Frascati, in a small urn, under the floor below his monument.

Within a few streets of the Hotel Colonna in Via dell’Olmo, you will find Osteria dell’Olmo, one of Frascati’s oldest osterie, where you can taste Frascati wine and typical local dishes.

Directions: The Hotel Colonna is in Piazza Gesù in the centre of Frascati, approximately 150 metres from the railway station from where there are frequent services to Ciampino and to Roma Termini railway station. The hotel is about 100 metres from the stop where the COTRAL buses depart to Rome and about three kilometres from the nearest exit on the A1 autostrada.

Restaurant recommendation:

Inside Trattoria e Pizzeria al '19'

Trattoria e Pizzeria al '19': Close to the Hotel Colonna, in Piazza Montegrappa, the Trattoria e Pizzeria al ‘19’ offers tipica cucina Frascatana (typical Frascati cooking).

The restaurant serves pizza  cooked in a wood oven and antipasti and contorni using locally sourced ingredients in season. Try their bucatini all’amatriciana and scaloppina al limone. Closed Mondays.

Local specialities: Try minestra di pasta e fagioli (soup with pasta and beans), pasta e broccoli con le cotiche (pasta and broccoli with pork rind), risotto ai carciofi (risotto with artichokes) and porchetta con il pane casareccio (roast suckling pig with home made bread).

Selection of wines made in Frascati

Local wines: White: Frascati is light, very quaffable and best drunk young. It tastes much better when it is drunk in the town where it is made than it does when sampled further afield.

Red: Look out for Cesanese del Piglio or Ferro e Seta.

Shopping: Take back food items such as oils, herbs and jars of truffle-based products, such as white truffle and black truffle pate.

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