Claudio and Gisele’s apartment is nice, clean, large, and well-furnished with great ventilation and light. The apartment is around 1,600 to 1,700 square feet and includes a very nice outdoor balcony with nice furniture and plants that overlooks a greenspace in front to the apartment block. Unlike a lot of units in Rome, this apartment really has enough space and enough nice lounge furniture to allow people to hang out together and not just sit at the dining table.
The two main bedrooms are very nice and large with plenty of closet and storage space. Neither bedroom has a ensuite bathroom but the floorplan layout is decent from a privacy perspective. The one bathroom has a tub and the other a small shower. Hot water was plentiful. You had to work a bit to get the shower water to a stable temperature but after that was achieved, there was good pressure and a nice experience.
The kitchen is well equipped and there is a laundry machine and drying rack just outside the kitchen. There is a grocery store directly across the street from the apartment that is very well stocked and open every day 08:00 to 20:00 M – Saturday. There is a café across the street as well. There are two nice neighborhood restaurants within a 2 – 3, minute, downhill walk and a great gelato shop just 5 minutes away a couple of streets in back of the apartment block.
The location is in the Monteverde neighborhood which is a sought-after residential neighborhood in Rome. It is primarily comprised of eight-story apartment block with the ground levels being shops and businesses. The neighborhood is nice to come back to after long days touring Rome as it is out of the fray and a little cooler.
We usually used taxis or Ubers to go to the area we wanted to go, walked all day and then used a taxi back. Costs for taxis and Ubers each way ranged from $8 (taxi from the Tiber near Trastevere) to $30 for an Uber Black during a rainstorm.
However, there is plenty to see within walking distance as well. The wonderful park of Villa Doria Pamphilli is just only about 5 to 7 minutes away and, my personal favorite, is the walk up Via Fonteiana up to Fontana dell’ Acqua Paola. That is about a 25 minute walk and at that point you have the option to walk up to the magnificent overlook of Rome (Belvedere del Gianicolo) or go down the road and tumble down the stairs and descend into the fun of Trastevere and its multitudinous restaurants and bars.
Please note that even though this is a residential district, it is still a densely populated urban neighborhood and the building, like all those around it, is a rigid concrete frame – so, the acoustical environment can be pretty lively at times. We would recommend bringing and using ear plugs.
Claudio and Gisele were great hosts. Communication with them was very good. Gisele greeted us upon our arrival and showed us how things worked in the apartment and did a great job of showing us how to use the keys, the laundry machine, cooktop, etc. They left us a nice bottle of wine, some bottled water (though the tap water is just fine) and some nice snacks – all of which were greatly appreciated.
The apartment has some nice artwork – some of it by Claudio, and the marble floor was wonderful as it was still rather warm outside and the floors kept things at a very nice temperature.
We had a very nice stay.