My advice to anyone visiting Rome will always be: stay away from the crazy touristy areas – yes, you will want to go there, of course, but you don’t want to live there. It’s crowded, over-priced and many hotels will be difficult to get to dragging along heavy luggage. It is a much better choice to stay a bit further from the central parts as long as you stay close to the metro lines (the Roman buses are notoriously unreliable). This is why Casa Camilla is such a great alternative – the nearest metro stop (Furio Camillo) is two minutes away and the metro takes you to Termini in 7 minutes, Piazza di Spagna in 11 minutes and the Vatican in 15 minutes.
In 2017 I lived one metro stop away from Casa Camilla for seven months and since then this area has become a favorite of mine, and my number one choice every time I come back to Rome. It is a safe, middle-class residential area where you get to live like the Romans do. All along Via Appia nuova you will find lots of shops and places to eat and if you want to do your own cooking, there is a large Elite supermarket less than a minute away from the apartment.
The apartment, itself, is small and cozy, perfect for the solo traveler or a couple. It is modern and stylish – the pictures on the website are very accurate. The kitchen is well equipped and the bathroom spacious, particularly the shower (something you are definitely not always spoiled with in Italy). Something I know that I’m not alone feeling, is that it is very important to have a well-functioning WiFi-connection. I didn’t do any streaming during my stay (apart from YouTube), but as for ordinary browsing the WiFi was very stable and reliable. Since the apartment faces an inner courtyard there was no “city noise” entering. As anyone who has traveled/lived in Italy knows, though, the walls and ceilings are much less insulated than you might be used to, which means that you will hear the neighbors – my first two days the family above had some VERY loud arguments – but you just have to see it as part of the charm of living an authentic Roman life :)
I did not get to meet Gianmarco in person since the (very smooth) check-in was done by a colleague of his. Neither did I have any questions or needed any help during my stay, so our communication was limited to questions regarding arrival and departure time. However, he made me feel very welcome. As a nice touch, particularly if you’re a first-time visitor to Rome, you will get some very useful information about how to get around and interesting places to visit etc. All in all, I highly recommend Casa Camilla as your home-away-from-home in Rome.