Set on the rooftop of the 16-room Palazzo Manfredi hotel, the new Aroma restaurant boasts some of the best views in Rome, overlooking the Colosseum, the Domus Aurea and Neros Gardens. Local designer Mariarenata Fimiani’s firm, Camaxx Workshop, was brought in by the Manfredi Fine Hotel Collection’s current owners Counts Gofredo and Leonardo Manfredi to create the cozy restaurant as part of her overall re-design of the hotel.

“I was asked by the customer to realize for an exclusive target an intimate and charming interior,” says Fimiani, noting she completed this task by mixing materials, colors, lights, and “quite uncommon furniture” supplied by Loto Design shop in Rome. “My goal was to realize continuity between the surrounding space’s strength, charm, and rich history. The choice of classic and pompous shapes combined with soft colors, in my opinion, represent a perfect link with all that surrounds the property.”

Aroma relies on simple changes of lighting and tablecloths to make the restaurant and terraces work for different dayparts: in the morning and afternoon the natural light and soft tablecloths make it suitable for lunch or an appetizer, and in the evening, candle light and a change of tablecloths make it perfectly linked to the glamorous atmosphere of the Roman nights.

“My challenge is to continue to look at my work as the opportunity to give ‘a new life’ to old historical buildings, changing them into exclusive hotels and continuing in my ‘experimentation,’ which means to utilize a very personal mix of colors, innovative materials, and design furniture,” says Fimiani. “I tried to capture the property’s unique location, chemistry, and emotions in the interiors and terraces which are respectful of the history but encompass the 21st century.”