The Rome EDITION Christmas 2026: festive menus, art and New Year

Rome is where we have decided to spend part of this festive season, and The Rome EDITION is where we are heading. The hotel off Via Veneto has just set out its Christmas and New Year programme: a hand made tree installation by the Neapolitan artist Giotto Calendoli, a €180 Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day lunch at Anima, a Beluga Martini served with caviar at Punch Room, house panettone, and a Champagne brunch on 1 January 2027. We are going to see all of it for ourselves.

Giotto Calendoli festive installation at The Rome EDITION — Giotto Calendoli’s festive installation, “Is There Still Room for a Wish?”, at The Rome EDITION

The tree we want to stand in front of

The first thing on our list is the installation at the centre of the hotel. Calendoli, a Naples born, Milan based artist, designer and founder of the sustainability minded label Handle with Freedom, has titled his piece “Is There Still Room for a Wish?”. He has dropped the conventional decorated fir altogether. Everything is made by hand from raw materials, and the work runs on into sculptural gift boxes wrapped in raw cotton, finished with hand stitched embroidery and his own illustrations.

The idea behind it is the wish making of childhood, when even a small wish felt possible. The hotel is also producing a run of miniature objects drawn from the installation, so guests can take a fragment of the work home. We want one.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Anima

Anima is the hotel’s signature restaurant, set beside its Roman style courtyard garden, and this season the kitchen is led by Chef Antonio Gentile, who cooks a contemporary version of Roman and Neapolitan food. We have read both festive menus closely, and they are the reason we are booking dinner and lunch rather than choosing one.

Christmas Eve is built around fish, as an Italian Vigilia should be. It opens with pomegranate salad and salt cod, then tuna belly cooked Puttanesca style, fettuccine with broccoli rabe, seafood and oregano, and a bread crusted turbot with artichokes and white wine sauce. A pear, citron and lemon balm pre dessert leads into ricotta with persimmon and almonds. It costs €180 a head, drinks extra.

Christmas Day lunch, also €180, is the richer of the two. Gentile starts with beef tacos, Beef Genovese and 36 month Parmigiano Reggiano with crisp celery, then bollito with salsa verde and sweet and sour cipollini onions. There is cocoa fettuccine with mushroom ragù, black truffle and Vacche Rosse Parmigiano Reggiano, cappelletti in a reduced capon broth, and slow braised beef with smoked potato, hazelnut and liquorice. Red orange, chamomile and bergamot clean the palate before torrone with Vin Santo and mandarin, then the hotel’s own Panettone EDITION and petits fours.

A festive dish at Anima, The Rome EDITION — Chef Antonio Gentile’s festive cooking at Anima

If we arrive earlier, Anima is also cooking a one day Thanksgiving menu at €100 a head: cornbread with smoked butter and anchovies, spaghetti with Neapolitan ragù meatballs, stuffed turkey with sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts and cranberry, and pecan pie with caramelised pears and sour cream ice cream. And on Sundays from 29 November to 27 December, the Festive Brunch runs at €65 a head with live music and bottomless sparkling wine.

A Martini and caviar at Punch Room

Punch Room is EDITION’s speakeasy style bar concept, and the Rome version sits on the hotel’s ground floor beside the Jade Bar. Bar Manager Riccardo Di Dio Masa and his team build their festive punches on the classic five part formula of sweet, sour, bitter, spirit and infusion, with warming spices added for winter, and they are made for sharing around the table.

The drink we are going for, though, is new this season. The Beluga Martini Experience, created with Beluga Vodka, is a Martini of Beluga Gold Line and dry vermouth served on its own tray with a portion of caviar, for €40. It is a simple proposition done properly, and we will order it on our first night.

The Beluga Martini Experience with caviar at Punch Room, The Rome EDITION — The Beluga Martini Experience at Punch Room, served with caviar

Panettone to bring home

Pastry Chef Giulia Zarattini makes the hotel’s panettone by hand with a slow rise, in 1kg loaves and three versions: Classic, Three Chocolates, and Apple and Cinnamon. They are sold only at the hotel and only in December, at €45 each, boxed in packaging designed around the hotel’s look. We plan to carry at least two back with us.

Why this hotel, and why now

The Rome EDITION opened in 2023 as the brand’s first hotel in Italy. It was conceived and programmed by Ian Schrager and is owned and run by Statuto Group, in a 1940s building that once housed a bank. There are 93 keys, made up of 74 rooms, 17 suites and two penthouses, plus a rooftop with a pool and bar. Via Veneto and Piazza Barberini are steps away, and the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain and the Borghese Gardens are all within walking distance, which is exactly how we intend to spend the days between meals.

We will see in 2027 at Anima’s New Year’s Day Brunch, with seasonal dishes and free flowing Champagne. Then we will tell you how it all went.

Inside The Rome EDITION hotel near Via Veneto — The Rome EDITION, steps from Via Veneto

The details

Thanksgiving menu, Anima: one day only, €100 per person, drinks excluded
Festive Brunch: Sundays, 29 November to 27 December, €65 per person
Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day lunch, Anima: €180 per person each, drinks excluded
Beluga Martini Experience, Punch Room: €40
Panettone EDITION: 1kg, €45, December only, sold at the hotel
New Year’s Day Brunch, Anima: 1 January 2027
Address: The Rome EDITION, Salita di San Nicola da Tolentino 14, 00187 Rome. Telephone +39 06 4524 9000. Bookings and details at editionhotels.com/rome

Imagery courtesy of The Rome EDITION.