Sleep in a billionaire’s bedroom at Getty’s refurbished Roman villa

American-born British petroleum industrialist Jean Paul Getty (1892-1976) bought the property in 1960. It was Getty who discovered the Roman ruins as he meticulously restored the residence and spent five years filling it with a dazzling array of antiques and art works from the 15th to the 17th century, curated by art historian Federico Zeri.

Getty was a notorious penny-pincher who famously refused initially to pay the ransom for the release of his grandson John Paul Getty III (Getty junior’s son), when he was kidnapped by the mafia in Rome in 1973.

Getty did, however, like using his money to satisfy his enormous appetite for art. He died in 1976, and in 1980, La Posta Vecchia and its entire collection of precious art works and furnishings was sold to Roberto Scio, Marie-Louise’s father.

Aged 87, Roberto is now retired. He bought the property to use as the family’s much-loved summer holiday home, before turning it into a sister hotel to the celebrated Il Pellicano on the coast of Tuscany, which Roberto had bought in 1979. In 2019, the Mezzatorre Hotel and Thermal Spa on the island of Ischia was added to the family’s small hotel portfolio.

With its vast cultural patrimony and enviable location, La Posta Vecchia quickly established a reputation as the epitome of Italian hospitality and an ideal retreat for those seeking to escape the chaos of central Rome.

Step across the threshold and the first thing you see are marble busts of ancient Roman emperors Vespasian and Agrippa; a magnificent 17th-century tapestry hangs above the informal reception desk.

Antiquarian maps and marble sculptures line the corridors leading to the 19 rooms and suites that feature more of the furnishings, art and etchings once owned by Getty, and every single piece of furniture, sculpture and work of art is given the same scrupulous attention they received from him.

The Getty Suite, once the private realm of the American billionaire, features coffered ceilings, original furnishings and views across the Mediterranean. A map from 1791 traces the coastal region, and a richly embroidered 17th-century velvet panel hangs above the bed.

The plush sofas and brocade curtains make it seem as if Getty has just left the room, which apparently he often did to visit his lovers in the adjoining Medici Suite (when he wasn’t partying with the international jetset who joined him at the villa).

In the centre of the hotel, a hidden staircase leads guests downstairs to the remains of the ancient Roman villa uncovered by Getty. They include decorative floor mosaics, amphoras and other artefacts, as well as rare pieces of marble. Today, Bacchanalian excess is limited to private wine tastings.

“It is a remarkable opportunity to step back in time and witness the legacy of ancient civilisations,” says Scio. “It is a testament to the rich history that lies beneath the surface of this extraordinary hotel.”

Upstairs, guests can take a dip in the sea or the heated indoor pool, visit the day spa for a massage or laze on the sunny balcony overlooking the hotel’s secluded pebble beach.

As the sun sets over the water, guests can retire to the bar for an amaro or a Sicilian passito (a type of dessert wine) – or to the salon that once served as Getty’s personal library, still filled with shelves of leather-bound books and plush furnishings the billionaire left behind. It’s the perfect spot for a glass or two of Franciacorta, a sparkling wine from the Brescia province, or maybe a fine red.

The hotel’s extensive wine collection is mostly sourced from the Lazio region or elsewhere in Italy, but there are plenty of wines from the likes of the United States, Chile, France, New Zealand and Australia. Dinner is served on brightly decorated plates from Scio’s Italian Issimo homewares collection on the balcony, or inside the restaurant overlooking the garden.

Whether it’s a white truffle or a courgette flower from the hotel’s vegetable garden, chef Antonio Magliulo focuses on creating simple, authentic dishes. “We must be able to eat a dish with our eyes closed and understand everything without looking, where each flavour has its own moment,” says the chef.

Magliulo, who hails from Caserta, outside Naples, has been working at La Posta Vecchia since 2008 and heads a young and enthusiastic team in the kitchen. His latest menu, Territorio, Uomo e Natura (Territory, Man and Nature) is focused on a respect for nature and sustainability.

He substitutes vegetables for meat wherever possible, and uses as many local ingredients as he can. Pasta al Pomodoro uses Campanian tomatoes and Puglian flour, for instance, making a virtue of the bounty on his doorstep. But equally, Magliulo is not averse to sourcing cod from Iceland or Ronce oysters from France.

After breakfast, he takes guests on a short stroll past the hotel’s vast lawns to the garden, where zucchinis, onions, eggplants, lettuce, eight types of tomato as well as fragrant basil flourish. “Look how beautiful this one is!” he exclaims as he plucks a fresh zucchini from the soil, explaining how he’s still experimenting with plants and seed varieties.

“We realised that some seedlings had to be replaced because they didn’t hold up well to the weather and the sea air. So we are focused on more local, more sustainable and simpler products.”

Inside the hotel kitchen, Magliulo combines his home-grown zucchinis and two types of fresh basil with a clove of garlic in a simple sauce, which is mixed through artisanal linguine from Latina, south of Rome. Topped with freshly picked fiori di zucca (zucchini flowers), the result is mouthwatering. “Food is about emotion,” says Magliulo. “This is not a job, it’s a vocation. It is about spending your time efficiently and creating something worthwhile for the guests.”

All this talk of sustainability and low food miles (and low wine miles, for that matter) provides quite the new lease of life for this villa, once owned by a family that originally made its fortune in oil.

Here though, it’s hard to hold on to irony for too long. There is wine to be drunk, zucchini flowers to eat, and a vast sea in which to swim.

The writer was a guest of La Posta Vecchia.

The spring issue of Fin Magazine is out on Friday, August 18 inside The Australian Financial Review.