From Rome with Love

Taking in the newly refreshed suites at Windsor is like traveling the world from home. Designer Alessandra Branca brings us to Europe, Asia and tropical island locales through her collected pieces adorning the suites. Every surface invites touch: hand-blocked wallpapers, jute rugs, leather-finish countertops and linens from the new Casa Branca collection that make breakfast in bed the most luxurious meal of the day. 

On a picture-perfect day at Windsor, Branca sits under the newly installed pergola on the green before the open house tour of the suites. The pergola is her way of inviting people to gather for conversation after walking through a gorgeous, canopied allee dotted with orchids, perfect for photos of memorable moments. “Such a pleasant way to enter the space, adding a bit of drama,” she offers. 

We begin the tour by climbing the stairs to the second-level suites. Each riser is a work of art that makes it seem as if we are ascending the steps to an Italian villa. “Instead of tiling the steps,” Branca explains, “we hand-painted them to look like concrete tiles.” It is touches such as these that make both the inside and outside of the suites a mix of comfort and elegance. The Honorable Hilary Weston, who co-founded Windsor with her husband, Galen, was the driving force behind the project. Weston collaborated closely with the designer on a shared vision. “I wanted the Suites to feel fresh and exciting for our guests and give them a true sense of how they could live at Windsor,” she says. “It was important to me not only to retain a classic and timeless design foundation for the Suites, but also inject a modern and whimsical twist. Hailing from Rome, Alessandra’s design aesthetic is rooted in a lifelong appreciation for classical design, so she was a natural choice.”