If I could own a second home in Rome, it would be Francesca's. It's a warm, elegant and gracious kind of place, with a book lined hallway and artwork and lots of light. It's exactly as pictured, and more convenient to the areas of Rome we wanted to explore than we realized.

We walked here from the Vatican (about 3 miles), and it was a little hard to find with the maps we had; it's tucked away on a side street of a side street of a side street. Once we found it, we didn't want to leave! Here are the things we liked best:

-- Francesca, who rented to us on very, very short notice, then left us flowers and a bottle of Rose because it was our honeymoon!

-- The living room, where we opened the large windows, curled up with books and even watched a little football

-- The small, stocked kitchen, with everything we needed to cook meals at home, as well as the Carrefour Express supermarket just a couple of blocks away

-- The comfortable sofas (think small Pottery-barn style) after a long day of walking

-- The space! This place is huge.

We look forward to returning with family.