We stayed at this apartment in Rome for 2 months. The location was absolutely perfect with its proximity to everything. Buses, shops, restaurants, attractions…
We walked 20,000-30,000 steps a day. Never took a taxi. The #40 and #64 bus to Roma Termini or S. Pietro train station was perfect and fast.
Upon arrival, Fabio was out of town but his wife Margherita greeted us and gave us a good tour and spent a long time telling us about some of the restaurants, coffee shops and the markets around us, and was available throughout the week giving us tips about where to go and what to see… They also live in the same building.
We used the apartment as our base and had a few trips here and there during our stay ie Napoli and Capri for a week, Southern France for 10 days (flew to Nice) … the beaches of Santa Marinella by train during the hot days. So getting to and from the airport by train to the FCO airport was very easy. We only used a limo when we got in on day 1 and Fabio recommended his usual driver. On one occasions we rented a car from Budget at Roma Termini to go to Porto Ercole in Monte Argentario and the nearby Saturnia thermal pools… Renting a car from Termini was probably the easiest way to do it but it was tricky to find the location where to pick up and where to drop off. Going to the station and exploring the actual location the seat before really helped avoid delays on the actual day. We also did some tours to Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio, Montepulciano, Pienza by train/bus and bus tour from Piazza Poppolo — an east 20 min walk.
Late night walks to the Vatican were fabulous to see it with nobody there and all the lights. Also walking to the Pratti area (behind the Castel Sant’Angelo was fast and a great experience to explore restaurants and beautiful buildings in the area.
Our bed was very comfortable except I found the pillows too soft. So I purchased a memory foam pillow from IKEA near via del Corso and left it there — it really made a big difference for my sleep… The apartment had enough towels but we needed to buy beach towels for the days we went to the beach. Couldn’t find any in Rome but found some in Santa Marinella. We left them in the apartment for future guests. Buying soaps and toilet paper and groceries was inexpensive and easy to carry from Carrefour Express nearby, and for fresh veggies from the nearby market at Campo Di Fiori.
Every morning coming out of the apartment we were treated to the views of Castel Sant’Angelo… great breakfast at Brassai on Via dei Coronari, and best ice cream at Gelateria del Teatro on the same street. Also great coffee at the Snack Bar at the corner on Vittorio Emanuel and best Maritozzos next door to it. Down that street was also some great wine bars and restaurants like E Passada La Moretta and Café Peru. Other great restaurants nearby were Il Corallo and Fatto in Casa where they had Jazz every Tuesday. We ended up going back many times to these favourites and got to know the owners and staff very well.
Doing laundry in the apartment was a bit tricky at first as we weren’t used to using a washer dryer in one unit. Eventually we figured it out and made our 2 months stay easy especially traveling with just carryons.
We are glad we found this apartment. For us it was perfect.