For decades, it was one of the most popular hotels in the western region of the capital, a high-quality three-star hotel just 5 kilometers from the Vatican City and the historic center. At some point, Hotel Giotto, located on Via Cardinal Passionei, will become a complex of 24 apartments.

To make room for two- and three-room apartments with modern finishes, it was necessary to completely demolish the original structure, a building with an unusual circular plan a few meters from Pineta Saketi Road. The new complex will be called “Nuova domus Sacchetti” and the apartments managed by Progedil are already up for sale on real estate advertising sites, with prices ranging from about 300,000 to 400,000 euros depending on the chosen category.

Giotto Hotel in August 2022 before demolition

The Giotto has also been in the heart of city news for thirty years. In fact, on December 4, 1992, when it was hosting about 300 Somali refugees, a fire broke out inside. About twenty of them climbed to the roof to save themselves from the flames, and were then saved. The Somalis, from what can be read in L’Unità the next day, were inside the hotel illegally, having already been evacuated.

in 2017 the Pinacci Our art group organized an event to celebrate those hours of drama.

Chronicle of the December 4, 1992 fire on the pages of L’Unità (from the newspaper’s archive)