BETTOJA HOTELS UNVEILS NEW OUTDOOR DINING AT HOTEL MASSIMO D’AZEGLIO

One of Italy’s most renowned family-owned hospitality groups, Bettoja Hotels announces new outdoor dining at the Hotel Massimo D’Azeglio in Rome. In light of COVID-19, the family-run Bettoja Hotels has created a new dining space where guests can enjoy lunch and dinner “al fresco” in the open air.  

Under the chairmanship of Maurizio Bettoja, President of Bettoja Hotels, the three monumental hotels, Hotel Mediterraneo, Hotel Massimo D’Azeglio and Hotel Atlantico, continue the hospitality group’s extensive redesign. The history of hospitality signed by Bettoja Hotels was born in Rome in 1875 and has never stopped, bringing through time and trends 140 years of services dedicated to hospitality with an all-Italian reception. After being the first hotel to offer air conditioning in Rome and having passed through the city’s historical highlights, Bettoja Hotels has never closed its hotels in the capital and continues to respond to the needs of this historic moment, in which security and the desire to find a new normality come together.

Since the nineteenth century, the Massimo D’Azeglio Restaurant welcomes its guests in a well-preserved and authentic “Fin de Siècle” atmosphere. The restaurant is one of the most longstanding restaurants in Rome and now offers to guests and locals a new space where they can experience lunches, aperitifs and dinners in the outdoors. Located in front of the restaurant, the new dining space offers 6 outdoor tables all spaced according to the government’s health and safety standards. The outdoor dining accommodates up to 16 people and creates a new “window” from which guests can admire Rome.

Led by Chef Renzo de Filippo, the restaurant offers traditional Piedmont and Roman cuisine and features an amazing wine cellar with over 2000 labels perfect for wine aficionados. The menu is accessible through smartphones by capturing the QR code directly from the table. Menus are also available in disposable paper format upon request. The Massimo D’Azeglio Restaurant is also open inside, where 30 tables are available with distances of more than 1 meter between diners. All guests are invited to wear a mask while moving within the restaurants and other public spaces.

Upon opening to the general public, the Hotel Massimo D’Azeglio has introduced additional safety and sanitation procedures strictly following the government’s health and hygiene guidelines to safeguard the health of all guests and employees:

• Safe environments: Bettoja Hotels has strengthened sanitization of common areas and installed plexiglass protections at the hotel reception desk with clearly outlined safety distances.
• Provide disinfectant gel dispensers for customers to use in common areas and restrooms.
• In order to follow social distancing standards, Bettoja has also restricted the number of customers allowed in the restaurant from 70 to 30, reducing the original restaurant capacity by 50%. In Italy there’s no limit to the number of people who can sit at the same table, however, considering the minimum distance of one meter between tables and between customers at the same table, tables with large groups are unlikely.
• The restaurant now has an open-air sidewalk space,  the Massimo d’Azeglio Dehors, with six tables that can host a maximum of 16 people in total. The sidewalk dining is both safer and pleasant in spring and summer.
• A QR code is located at each table for guests to simply scan the code image with their smartphone to open a digital menu, without actually handling a menu. The menu is also written on a large 1930s blackboard, and disposable paper menus are also provided (on request.
• Guests are invited to wear a face mask for any movement within the restaurant, such as entering until they reach their table, going to the restroom, and settling the check.
• All staff are equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE), and closely follow safety protocols.
• At the end of each service, all surfaces are cleaned and disinfected.
• Bettoja keeps a list of the restaurant customers for at least 30 days for contact tracing.

The hotel group consists of three hotels located in the heart of Rome on Via Cavour – all within walking distance of each other.  Its flagship property, Hotel Mediterraneo was built in 1936 and blends museum-worthy Art Deco design and stylish furnishings with historical touchstones such as maps, prints and marble busts of Roman emperors. The hotel’s seven new meeting rooms can host up to 120 people in theater style. Hotel Mediterraneo offers 242 rooms, three dining spaces and one rooftop restaurant and bar. With incredible views of the city, the Roof Garden Restaurant & Bar and host 70 people for a cocktail reception and 60 people for a seated lunch or dinner. The nearby Hotel Massimo D’Azeglio has 185 rooms with a special focus on history and houses original paintings from the 1860s Risorgimento (unification) period. With three modern meeting rooms, Hotel Massimo D’Azeglio can host 180 people in theater style and offers 185 rooms, one historic restaurant and an ancient wine cellar that can host 80 people for a cocktail reception and 60 people for a seated event. The more intimate Hotel Atlantico is connected to the Hotel Mediterraneo and offers 65 rooms, three meeting rooms with natural light with the capacity to host up to 55 people in theater style.