It was the Italian Prime Minister himself, Marquis di Rudinì, who suggested to the Swiss hotelier César Ritz, during a diplomatic visit to London, to open a luxury hotel in the Italian capital. The inauguration took place on 11 January 1894, a snowy day in Rome, with Pope Leo XIII, the Savoy king Umberto I and Kaiser Wilhelm II all present. A myth began, that of the Grand Hotel, brought back to new splendor, through a pharaonic restoration, under the aegis St. Regis. Here you could find the most illustrious personalities of the twentieth century, politicians, monarchs and artists. The restyling has respected the magnificent splendor of the interiors, designed, together with the majestic façade, by Giulio Podesti, and decorated with pre-Raphaelite style frescoes by Mario Spinetti, giving new enamel to their eclectic splendor, which combines neoclassicism, rococo, liberty in a dazzling synthesis, to which contemporary additions inject an energetic lymph. Finally, the excellent services, the gourmet cuisine, the cocktail bars with a youthful appeal, the strategic location, crown the St. Regis Rome as the prince of the luxury hotels in Rome.