SLEEPER HIT

The Orient Express pulls into Rome, paying homage to the golden age of travel in its first hotel, just footsteps from the Pantheon

- NICOLA LEIGH STEWART

There has always been something undeniably seductive about long-distance train travel: the promise of adventure in far-off lands, and a pace slow enough to contemplate what you might find when you get there. Yet few trains conjure up glamour and intrigue quite like the Orient Express, which has been transporting travellers in style since 1883. The Accor-owned brand has now embarked on a new journey: the opening of its first hotel in Rome.

Located on the Piazza della Minerva, just steps from the Pantheon, the hotel is housed in the former Palazzo Fonseca. Transformed into a hotel in 1811 by a wealthy French family, it quickly became one of Rome's most fashionable addresses; a favoured stop-off for Grand Tour writers including Stendhal, George Sand and Herman Melville. Its new incarnation, the Orient Express La Minerva, has been reborn under the direction of Franco-Mexican designer Hugo Toro, continuing a hospitality portfolio that includes the Michelin-starred Pur' at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme and Booking Office 1869 at London's St Pancras. Toro's work is united by a sense of warmth and tactility: a rich, earthy palette and craftsmanship drawn from his dual heritage. 'I grew up with two cultures,' he says. 'Even though I never lived in Mexico, its colour, atmosphere and warmth are a part of me.'