House of Gucci in Rome

For years this apricot-coloured villa was the private residence of the Gucci family, high on the Camilluccia on the wooded slopes of Monte Mario above Rome, at the end of a long private drive lined with umbrella pines. It has kept the feeling of a family house rather than a hotel, with parquet floors worn smooth, antique furniture in every room and paintings and bronzes left where the family placed them.

At its centre is a sweeping spiral staircase that rises through the full height of the house, lit from above and hung with tapestries. Around it the rooms unfold in sequence: five separate living and lounge areas, a green damask salon with a marble fireplace, a music room with a grand piano, a panelled billiard room, a study lined with books, and a formal dining room that opens onto the garden. The decoration is the family's own, layered over decades, and it gives the house a character that no newly furnished rental can imitate.

The bedroom floors are quieter. Five bedrooms, four of them king suites and one a twin room, look out over the pines through tall shuttered windows, with seven bathrooms between them, each finished in its own marble or hand-painted tile. A lift connects the floors, and the top floor opens onto a rooftop terrace with an uninterrupted panorama over Rome.

Outside, more than seven thousand square metres of private garden surround the house. Gravel paths curve between ancient pines and clipped hedges to a circular fountain, a stone shrine and a marble lion. The swimming pool sits at the far end of the lawn beside a terracotta pool house, with sun loungers, a shaded loggia and an outdoor dining area with a barbecue for long Roman evenings.

The Camilluccia is one of the calmest addresses in Rome, minutes by car from the Vatican and the centro storico yet screened entirely by its own trees. A caretaker lives discreetly on site and looks after the house and grounds throughout the stay, and a concierge team can arrange private guides, a chef, transfers and tables at the city's best restaurants.