MEDITERRANEAN AMBIENCE IN A DESERT MOTOR LODGE.

Byline: Eric Noland Travel Editor

PALM SPRINGS - Fountains gurgle in the weathered-brick courtyards. Bougainvillea spreads thickly across red-tile roofs. Flowers erupt from terra cotta pots at poolside. Mature citrus trees, laden with fruit, shade the corners of patios. Walkways pass beneath archways, and bend this way and that.

Though the Villa Royale Inn is a boutique hotel in the desert, it has more the feel of a hideaway on the Italian Riviera, so completely is the suspension of reality here.

And that's exactly the point.

The inn, which dates to the late 1930s, underwent a conversion early in its life while under the ownership of some Hollywood set designers, according to Stephen Jeffers, who oversees the Villa Royale's fine-dining restaurant, Europa.

``They wanted to create an Italian Mediterranean villa,'' he said, ``and borrowed from their travel experiences and their set-designing experiences.''

Guests today can bask in this movie magic. The inn, though possessing just 31 rooms, twines around three courtyards - two with pools, one with a fountain (there are three fountains on the grounds of this tiny property). Greenery grows thickly along tall garden walls, creating a barrier between you and the real world out on Indian Trail.

If you're fortunate enough to be assigned the courtyard most distant from the lobby, it almost feels as if you're in a private wing, sharing a quiet pool area with just eight other rooms.

Other charms include a poolside bar framed by vines that are festooned with tiny white lights after dark, a rose garden and a spa tub tucked away in a glade of its own.

In our room, we were pleased to find a fireplace, a small kitchen and a private patio out back, as well as the charm of midcentury tile and fixtures in the bathroom and kitchen.

The Villa Royale is part of an intriguing - and welcome - trend in Palm Springs.

A number of little inns sprang up in the '30s and '40s, as radio and movie figures sought out the desert for the privacy and rejuvenation it afforded. Then, in the motor-court rage of the '50s and '60s, the lodgings were desecrated with linoleum, shag carpeting and cheap plastic fixtures. The inns skidded toward dilapidation in the '70s and '80s, mirroring the course of Palm Springs itself.

But the city's resurgence in the '90s under then-Mayor Sonny Bono revitalized these tired lodgings in its wake. The Villa Royale is just one of several to benefit from new ownership, some TLC - and, of course, guests of means who are desirous of bedding down close to the city's newly hip downtown district.

The inn, under an ownership group that includes actress Amy Aquino, has undergone a five-year renovation. The restaurant has been overhauled over the last two years, and continues the inn's theme by serving continental cuisine in a comfortable setting.

To its credit, the Villa Royale's management has kept its vigor in check only where the gardens are concerned, rejecting the neatly manicured landscaping that has been a signature of the Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert resorts for years. In keeping with that Italian hideaway motif, the trees and shrubbery have been guided but not subjugated. ``We want it contained but still vivid and overflowing, not sanitized,'' said Jeffers.

On our walk to the complimentary breakfast - which can be taken on a lanai alongside one of the pools - we were thrilled to encounter a gardener who was tidying up with a rake and a broom rather than one of those infernal leaf blowers.

There were a few things that could have been improved on, though.

The windows of our room had no screens. Neither did the French door opening onto the rear patio. This meant we had to sleep with the air conditioner running when we would have preferred to open a window or two to the temperate evening.

The decor of our room (No. 308) was incongruously dark - carpet, bedspread, furniture. We actually needed flashlights to locate items in our bags.

The rooms here are designed after various themes, and we were unlucky enough to get stuck with a Bavarian motif, with a cuckoo clock on the wall and beer steins on a ledge. We peeked into a couple of empty rooms, however, and found light colors and desert designs.

Also, we were issued one pool towel each, and it wasn't replaced with the next day's maid service. That seemed unforgivable during a September stretch when the midday highs were 110 degrees - and you're inclined to spend more time in the pool than out of it.

But the stay was otherwise delightful.

We were intrigued when a local resident said that this was once the home of figure skater and actress Sonja Henie, but apparently that's a kernel of Palm Springs legend. The restaurant started out as a private residence, but the inn's management hasn't turned up any evidence that it was hers. ``More likely, the inn was some place she used to stay,'' said Jeffers.

It's a bit of movie myth that only enhances the set-design magic.

--Villa Royale Inn, 1620 Indian Trail, Palm Springs. Rooms from $139, including breakfast, at this time of year; from $119 in summer. Information: [phone] or [phone]; www.villaroyale.com.

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Photo:

(1 -- color) The Villa Royale in Palm Springs is a small boutique hotel that reflects an Italian Mediterranean theme.

(2 -- 3) The Villa Royale Inn in Palm Springs, top, evokes an Italian hideaway, right down to the romantic trappings of its restaurant, the Europa, above.