House of Gucci in Rome

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.