10/02/2024
I love Sophia Loren! She's an amazing person and actress who turned 90 recently. That she celebrated at a hotel that I stayed in while in Rome in 2019 (when it was a Marriott) is just icing on my cake!
She celebrated on the rooftop at the Anantara Palazzo Naiadi in Rome. To mark the occasion, the hotel is announcing its new Sophia Loren Suite in honor of its most glamorous guest.
On Friday, Sept. 20 nearly 200 guests from around the globe, gathered at the hotel to celebrate Italy’s beloved star as she extinguished her 90 candles in a place she has known and loved for years. Sophia was dressed for the occasion by Giorgio Armani and guests were served a carefully curated menu of her favorite dishes inspired by Ms. Loren’s cookbooks and prepared by the hotel Executive Chef Heros De Agostinis.
Tables were named for the star’s most famous films, including “A Special Day,” “La Ciociara,” “The Sunflowers,” “The Gold of Naples” and “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.” The evening ended with the presentation of a nine-tier birthday cake decorated with white chocolate roses (Loren’s favorite flowers) prepared by the hotel Pastry Chef Daniele De Santi.
The evening also served as an opportunity to officially unveil the Sophia Loren Presidential Suite at Anantara Palazzo Naiadi Rome Hotel, the world’s only suite dedicated to the actress.
A dynamic space, the suite will be a sensory expression of Ms. Loren’s tastes, loves and memories, filled with, for example, her favorite white roses, books, and pictures of Pozzuoli, her beloved hometown. It will invite guests to inhabit the actress’s world in a place she adores.
"Mia madre has always loved this hotel,” said her son, Edoardo Ponti. “She knows every corner but is especially fond of this suite where, on many occasions, she has gazed out over the Piazza della Repubblica with the Fountain of the Naiads and beyond towards the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. She first stayed here when visiting Giuseppe Marzio Prontrandolfo, who, in addition to his role as the hotel’s head of institutional relations, is a dear friend of whom my mother is particularly fond. They have known each other for 20 years, and it is thanks to him that this collaboration with Anantara Palazzo Naiadi began. This suite feels like her Roman home, and we hope the guests who choose to stay here will feel the same."
Features of the room include a beauty station with some of Ms. Loren’s must-have cosmetics, a movie corner with a DVD player and her most iconic films, a playlist loaded with her favorite songs, and family photos on the walls. Her biographies and a selection of books she authored will make up a small library, along with her favorite reads, and the air will be scented with her favorite perfume.
Guests will enjoy coffee served in her customary style – with two savoiardi Italian biscuits– and have the chance to taste some of her favorite dishes, prepared on request by the hotel’s expert chef from Ms. Loren’s own recipe books, including “Recipes and Memories" and "In Cucina con Amore." Finally, exclusive arrival and departure gifts will complete the experience, which has been carefully curated with the hotel’s team by Edoardo, a renowned film director in his own right.
