"Give and Take" (2012) by Galina Dargery



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IN THIS ISSUE
ROME'S HOTELS  
Part One
By John Mariani

NEW YORK CORNER
INDIA
By John Mariani

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
A CRITIQUE OF PURE RIESLING, Part Two
By John A. Curtas


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VERY SPECIAL EVENT: On July 7 Lincoln Ristorante at Lincoln Center in NYC will host a Sugar Snap Pea Dinner,  with special guest, pioneering botanist and inventor of the snap pea back in 1979, Calvin Lamborn.  Chefs Marco Canora, Wylie Dufresne, and Justin Smillie will join Lincoln Chefs Jonathan Benno and Richard Capizzi to cook a five-course dinner highlighting the selection of peas.  It will be a rare evening offering guests the chance to taste several varietals of the peas, and meet the extraordinary man known as the ‘Snap Pea Sensei.’ 5 Course Dinner $150 pp. (plus tax and gratuity).   Lincoln Ristorante, 142 West 65th Street; 212.359.6500.  http://bit.ly/1UdEtmq

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ROME'S HOTELS
Part One 
By John Mariani
Concierge reception desk at Rome Cavalieri Hotel

 
    By now the high season is in full swing in Italy, producing debilitating crowds and long lines everywhere, which is why, when traveling anywhere, choosing a hotel with a eminently knowledgeable concierge can be crucial in planning your schedule.  A good concierge is not just helpful getting restaurant reservations, but can wave you away from particular museums and monuments at certain times of day when the crowds would be prohibitive.  He may also know of special tickets that allow you to buck the lines, can arrange for you to have a driver or  how to use the subway in Rome, which is still (slowly) expanding.
    That said, the best concierges in Rome are in the best hotels, where having such a job is extremely prestigious and well-paying.  They pride themselves on quickly making difficult doors open for their guests, and, as the saying goes, the impossible takes a little longer.   So here are two of the top hotels in Rome.

ROME CAVALIERI
Via Alberto Cadlolo 101
011-39-06-3509-1
Romecavalieri.com

      Among Rome’s few five-star hotels is the Cavalieri, now part of the Waldorf Astoria hotel company, which has invested heavily in the property so as to update completely every aspect, from the rooms to the pool and spa, while maintaining the sprawling hotel’s unique 1960s grandeur.  From the beautifully landscaped entryway to the extravagant reception area (left), with its winding staircase to the lower floor where a state-of-the-art Grand Spa is located, housing the city’s most beautiful indoor and outdoor pools (open for a fee to non-guests), everything looks fresh yet part of another era, when the names Fellini, Mastroianni and Loren were known to every American.
    Perched high up on Monte Mario, with a view of the vast city of Rome and the Vatican,  the Cavalieri was designed as a respite from the day-time madness below. The comfort of the rooms ranges from high luxury to eye-popping elegance.  All the rooms are sound proofed, each with a living area, and with all of the finest amenities, including WiFi (that really works!); on the top two floors are the hotel’s grandest Imperial Rooms, with their own separate check-in and elevator access.
    More than any other hotel I know in Rome, the Cavalieri offers its own “experiences,” which include children’s activities and for adults afternoon tea in the Tiepolo Lounge, with its magnificent 1725 triptych by the artist. Indeed, the hotel has one of the world’s finest private art collections dating to the 16th century (right), including an infant’s crib commissioned by Napoleon for his son, a coiffeuse table designed for Marie Antoinette, Bacchanalian frescoes,  and the famously rare Beauvais tapestries. You may arrange for a private tour of the collection.
    There are some fantasy offerings, including learning gladiatorial combat to satisfy one’s inner Spartacus, and something more contemporary:  the chance to rent either a Lamborghini or Maserati sportscar so you can chase James Bond’s Aston-Martin around the nightime streets of Rome. 
    The hotel’s concierge can also arrange for you to take a 90-minute tour of the highly restricted Vatican Gardens—the Pope’s own private walkway—then a further tour of the Vatican Museum, without enduring the endless lines.  The hotel can also arrange for a round of golf at the Rome Golf Club, five minutes from city center.
    Throughout the day there is a complimentary hotel shuttle that takes guests down to stops at the Via Veneto and the Piazza Barberini; otherwise it's a steep walk down and back.
    Of course, it is tempting, especially after jetlag, simply to spend the day at the hotel, beginning with a splendid breakfast of warm brioche and cappuccino on the terrace, lunch al fresco at L’Uliveto or the Pool Bar, and later on, dinner at one of Italy’s finest restaurants, La Pergola, whose uniqueness is such that I will soon be devoting an entire article to the experience.

THE HASSLER HOTEL
Piazza Trinità dei Monti, 6
39 06 699340
Hotelhasslerroma.com

    In the  historic center of Rome, adjacent to the Spanish Steps, is the magnificent Hassler Hotel, one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that may well turn into a habit whenever you visit Rome.  For once you are received and greeted here by Roberto E. Wirth, President, General Manager and second generation owner of The Hassler, you will experience a graciousness and personal concern that marks everyone’s stay here.  By the time you get to the concierge desk it seems everyone in the hotel knows you by name. 
    The Hassler has been in the Wirth family since 1921.  Just before World War II Oscar Wirth demolished the original building and, after the war began,  its replacement would become the Rome headquarters for the U.S.  Air Force, re-opening to the public in 1947.
    Since then, The Hassler has remained at the top of Rome’s five-star hotels by maintaining its singular traditions, both architecturally and hospitality-wise, and its consistent clientele includes just about every international movie star and head of state, dating back to John and Jacqueline Kennedy’s visit to Rome in July 1963 (left).
    There is probably no one in Rome who is better connected to the international community of travel than Roberto Wirth (below), who serves as consultant to other hotels, is active in many charities, and currently is President of the Spanish Steps Association; in 2005 he was named "Independent Hotelier of the World" by Hotels magazine, and a year later was awarded the Prize for Economic Achievement by Rome’s City Government  and the "Marco Aurelio Prize for Tourism.” Wirth also has received several Honorary Doctorates in Humane Letters, and is one of the eight deaf recipients of the Deaf Nation Inspiration Award (for Hotel Hospitality). Two years ago Wirth was awarded the “Leading Legend Award” by The Leading Hotels of the World.
    I mention all these honors because in a hotel world where owners are fickle and general managers come and go, Wirth has forged and refined his own brand of style and hospitality so that The Hassler remains unique in Rome and very rare anywhere else. Aside from the expected amenities in the rooms, there is same-day laundry service (tough to find in Rome), complimentary shoeshine service (rare now everywhere), a business center, and VIP shuttle service.
    Its spectacular eminence next to the Trinità del Monti church and the Spanish Steps gives The Hassler a sense of being in the center of things—it’s just steps from the Keats-Shelley Memorial, Via Condotti and Villa Borghese—while seeming separate from the swirling carousel that is Rome. 
    The Wirths also own the smaller four-room Il Palazzetto (left) astride the Spanish Steps, which  has the feeling of being its own boutique pied-a-terre, with access to all The Hassler’s services.
    Our room in The Hassler was one of the more recently updated (below), with a modern, white-silver-and-black décor, a wonderfully roomy dressing area and stunning, large marble bathroom. (I recall the days when bathrooms in Rome, even at the five-star level, were cramped and uncomfortable.)
    As with the Cavalieri’s great restaurant, La Pergola, I will be reporting on The Hassler’s marvelous Imago terrace dining room in the near future.  You may also dine at the riotously colorful Salone Eva with its adjacent bar (favored by the late Princess Diana) or the outdoor Palm Court Garden Restaurant & Bar.  Wherever you allow yourself to drop after a day of sightseeing, you’ll feel cushioned against all the world’s follies and foibles, content to drink a Martini or Negroni on a tufted banquette in view of a marble fireplace and bookcases, wondering when Signore Wirth may come by to greet his old friends and his new acquaintances, to make sure everything is being done for your comfort.
    As I wrote some years ago on my last visit to The Hassler, “through its revolving doors has come the whole world, and the hotel’s concierges perform more miracles than the Pope,  at the request of guests who are as demanding as they are eccentric.  From your room you can see the hokey grandeur of the  Victor Emmanuel II monument and the splendor of the Piazza Navona,  the cool greenery of the Borghese Gardens and all the glowing marble domes of Rome’s churches and St. Peter’s spread across the horizon.”

    At twilight the intense blue of Rome’s sky softens into a band of pink and fiery orange punctuated by the city’s steeples and spires. The lights of Rome’s monuments come up to mimic the incandescence of the moon, and everyone in the streets seems in the throes of la dolce vita until the church bells toll at midnight.

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