Rome, between Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps
Hotel de Russie
A terraced garden designed by Valadier in the heart of Rome, where Picasso and Cocteau once picked oranges from their windows, and one long table for the people you love most.Prices updated October 2026 · by Marina
A few steps from Piazza del Popolo, behind the walls of Via del Babuino, there is a garden most visitors to Rome never see. It climbs in terraces towards the Pincio hill, with palms, yews, orange trees and white climbing roses, and it belongs to Hotel de Russie, the grand hotel designed by Giuseppe Valadier, the architect of Piazza del Popolo itself. In February 1917 Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau stayed here in adjoining rooms and picked oranges from the garden by leaning out of their windows; Cocteau called the place a paradise on earth.
After your ceremony in a Roman church or at the Campidoglio, this is where we bring you and up to forty of your closest people: an aperitivo among the fountains and greenery, then one long table on the terrace as the evening light falls over the city. It is the most elegant way we know to end an intimate wedding day in Rome, without ever leaving the centre.
at a glance
At a glance
15guests at the least
30where it is at its best
40and not one more
Budget level: €60,000 to €90,000budget level
Where
Via del Babuino 9, between Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps
The house
A grand hotel designed by Giuseppe Valadier in the early nineteenth century, now a Rocco Forte hotel
The garden
The Secret Garden, about 2,800 square metres of terraces with palms, yews and climbing roses
Guests
From fifteen to around forty, at one imperial table
Exclusive use
No: your aperitivo area and dinner terrace are reserved for you, while the hotel carries on around you
Aperitivo
Standing, in the Vasca Romana area of the garden
Dinner
Served at an imperial table on the Sergej Terrace; in bad weather, in the Torlonia Room
Music
Until eleven in the evening
The kitchen
The hotel's own; aperitivo, wedding cake, water and coffee in the menu
Ceremony
In a Roman church or at the Campidoglio beforehand
Airports
Fiumicino about forty minutes, Ciampino about thirty
Best months
April to June, September and October
Budget level
●○○ an intimate dinner for up to forty
the villa
Why here
Because Rome rarely gives you green. The historic centre is stone, domes and piazzas, and that is its glory. But after a ceremony in a church or at the Campidoglio, what a small wedding often wants is quiet, air and a table under the sky. The Secret Garden of Hotel de Russie is nearly three thousand square metres of terraces, palms and roses in the very middle of the city, and the moment your guests walk in, the noise of Rome falls away.
Because it is one of the great hotels of the world. Hotel de Russie is a Rocco Forte hotel, with the service, the kitchen and the quiet confidence that comes with that name. For a dinner of thirty, that means a team used to looking after the most demanding guests in the world, a menu written for you and nothing left to chance.
Because everything is a short walk away. The hotel sits on Via del Babuino, between Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps. Your guests can stay here or in the hotels around it, walk to the dinner, and walk home afterwards through the most beautiful streets in Rome.
Because it keeps a small wedding in proportion. For an intimate wedding, a whole palace or villa can feel too large and cost too much. A garden table at de Russie gives you the elegance of a grand hotel at the size of your guest list.
rooms
Where you sleep
The simplest weekend is the one where nobody has to go anywhere: the two of you, and as many of your guests as you like, stay at Hotel de Russie itself, with breakfast at Le Jardin de Russie in the same garden where you had dinner. The hotel offers group rates from ten rooms, which can be extended a few nights before and after the wedding, and on the busiest dates it asks for a minimum of two nights.
It is one of the most sought-after hotels in Rome, and its rooms are priced accordingly. A sensible arrangement is to book the hotel for the two of you and your parents and place the rest of the guests in excellent hotels a few minutes' walk away, around the Spanish Steps and Via del Corso. We hold the rooms, manage the list and make sure everyone can walk to dinner.
the days
The evening
Arrival. After the ceremony, the cars bring you through the centre to Via del Babuino. Your guests are already in the garden, glass in hand, and the first applause of the evening happens under the palms.
The aperitivo. In the Vasca Romana area of the Secret Garden, standing among the greenery with Franciacorta and canapés from the hotel kitchen. It is the moment for portraits on the terraces, for the toasts nobody planned, and for the two families to meet properly.
Dinner. Then everyone moves to the Sergej Terrace, where a single imperial table is laid for you, with the garden falling away below and the evening light going gold over the rooftops. One long table is the format we love here: thirty people who all know each other, the speeches between courses, and nobody too far away to hear them.
The cake and the last glass. The wedding cake is cut at the table, coffee and petit fours follow, and the evening closes with a final toast around eleven. Then you can take the walk home through Piazza del Popolo or the Spanish Steps with their closest friends, which is one of the most beautiful ways we know to end a wedding day in Rome.
What it is, and what it is not
We would rather tell you now than have you find out later.
It is a dinner, not a party. Hotel de Russie is a working hotel with guests sleeping above the garden, so music for a wedding without exclusive use of the hotel ends at eleven in the evening. That makes it perfect for an elegant dinner with a string quartet or a pianist, and the wrong choice if you are dreaming of dancing until three. If you want both the garden dinner and a late party, we can plan the dancing elsewhere in the centre afterwards, or suggest a palazzo that is entirely yours for the night.
It is reserved, not exclusive. The aperitivo area and the dinner terrace are set aside for your wedding, but the hotel, its restaurant and its bar carry on around you. At thirty guests in a garden this size, it feels private; it is not a takeover.
It is for an intimate wedding. The format is designed for fifteen to around forty guests at one table. For a larger wedding in Rome, we will show you a venue built for it.
ceremony
The ceremony before
Hotel de Russie is where you celebrate; the ceremony happens in one of the places that make Rome Rome.
A church wedding. We know the Roman churches that suit an intimate wedding, from Santa Maria in Aracoeli on the Capitoline Hill to Santa Maria in Trastevere. A Catholic wedding takes about six months of preparation and begins in your own parish at home; we take it from there, with the church, the priest, the music and the paperwork in Rome. Our guides to Catholic weddings in Rome explain every step.
A civil ceremony at the Campidoglio. Marrying in the town hall of Rome, on Michelangelo's square, is legally binding for American couples once the paperwork is done, and the Campidoglio is a short drive from the hotel. We arrange the cars, the access and the side entrance for older relatives.
For American citizens, a legal marriage in Italy needs a sworn declaration at the US Embassy in Rome, legalised, and then a declaration of intent at the town hall, so you arrive two or three working days before the wedding. In Rome, those days are a pleasure rather than a chore. We prepare the documents, book the appointments and come with you.
season
Season and availability
April to June, September and October.
table and music
The table
The hotel's kitchen writes the wedding menu with you, and it reads like Rome on a good evening. The aperitivo opens with Franciacorta and a run of canapés: raw prawns with guacamole and finger lime, octopus with crispy potatoes and lardo di Colonnata, zucchini flowers fried to order, brioche with lobster. At the table come two pastas, perhaps orecchiette with broccoli, anchovies and burrata or paccheri cacio e pepe with red prawns, a main of fish or meat, a dessert such as the hotel's own tiramisù, then the wedding cake, coffee and petit fours.
The menu includes the aperitivo, the cake, water and coffee. Wines are chosen with the hotel's sommelier and served as you go, from prosecco or champagne for the toasts to the whites and reds at dinner. Dietary needs and children's menus are routine, and basic table flowers and printed menus are part of the hotel's service, which our florist then builds on.
We taste the menu with you before the wedding, ideally on your first visit to Rome.
budget
What it costs
Budget level: €60,000 to €90,000
●○○ A wedding with dinner at Hotel de Russie. The lower band, €60,000 to €90,000, for thirty guests, everything included, whether you marry in a Roman church, at the Campidoglio or in a symbolic ceremony. We publish it so you are not weeks into collecting quotes before anyone gives you a number.
The figure moves gently with the guest count, because the garden and the people who make the day stay the same. You receive the real budget line by line, with 2027 prices and Italian VAT already in it.
We name our fee in full on the first call, as a figure, and we do not take commission you cannot see.
What the number covers
The garden aperitivo and the dinner terrace
The aperitivo, dinner, wedding cake and an allowance for wine
The ceremony and its costs
Flowers and decor, music, photography and film
The cars between ceremony and dinner
A coordinator on site
Our planning fee, inside the number and not added to it
What it does not cover
Your flights, your clothes and rings, hotel rooms, wines beyond the allowance, the hotel's optional service gratuity, and anything you add once you have seen the first version.
Every wedding is costed individually. You get a line-by-line estimate for your date after the first call.
our part
What we bring to this one
We work with Hotel de Russie's event team directly, and we plan weddings there for the coming seasons. We know how the evening flows from the garden to the terrace, how long it takes thirty guests to settle at an imperial table, and how to bring cars to Via del Babuino at exactly the right moment.
Katerina takes your first call. She trained in hospitality and worked in hotels before joining us, which is exactly the background a wedding inside a grand hotel needs. Svetlana runs the client side from Rome, knows the hotel's team in person, and trained as a psychologist, which on a wedding day matters more than it sounds. Laura handles the production and the suppliers.
Two of us are on the ground for the whole wedding day, one with you at the ceremony and one already in the garden when the first guests arrive. When it rained at a wedding of ours, our team took the umbrellas to the guests and stood in the rain ourselves. Your job that day is to get married. Ours is everything else.
photos
More from Hotel de Russie
our weddings here
We have planned weddings in this house
Krina and Yuri
A civil ceremony at the Campidoglio, then an intimate dinner at one long table in the Secret Garden.
The legal or religious ceremony takes place in a Roman church or at the Campidoglio, and the hotel's garden is where you celebrate afterwards.
How many guests?
From fifteen to around forty, at one imperial table. For a larger wedding we will suggest a venue built for it.
Is the garden ours alone?
Your aperitivo area and dinner terrace are reserved for you. The hotel carries on around you, so it feels private without being a takeover.
Can we dance?
Music ends at eleven in the evening, so this is an elegant dinner rather than a late party. If you want to dance, we can plan an after-party elsewhere in the centre, or suggest a palazzo that is yours for the whole night.
What if it rains?
Dinner moves into the Torlonia Room inside the hotel, and the evening carries on unchanged.
Can our guests stay at the hotel?
Yes, with group rates from ten rooms. You can also keep the hotel for family and place other guests in hotels nearby, all within walking distance.
How much does it cost?
In the lower band, €60,000 to €90,000, for thirty guests, everything included, with or without a church wedding.
first step
Talk to us about a date
Marina, who founded WOWITALY, answers every inquiry herself. The first video call is with Katerina, it costs nothing, and it is not a sales call. Tell us roughly how many guests, roughly when, and whether you see yourselves in a church or at the Campidoglio, and we will tell you what the day costs, how the ceremony and the garden dinner fit together, and what we would change about your plan. If your wedding wants a late party or a larger room, that is what you will hear.
Two things worth bringing to that call. Your guest list, because this is a table for up to around forty. And the kind of ceremony you want, because a church wedding needs six months and starts at home, while the Campidoglio has its own calendar.
We will name our planning fee on that call, in full, as a figure. It is already inside every number on this page.
The Baroque salons of Palazzo Borghese in the heart of Rome, a Gallery of Mirrors from 1678 and one long table for up to forty, ten minutes from the Campidoglio.
A cardinal's villa with frescoes by Panini in the hills where the Popes spend their summers, a terrace looking out over Rome, and the airport twenty minutes away.
Prices updated October 2026 · by Marina
