Great stay and Maury was an excellent host. Communication was steady and friendly without being overbearing. He was actually away on vacation and his super friendly mother checked me in and out. Though Maury speaks English (I don't know about other languages); his mother speaks Italian and French but no English. Maury made himself available via phone (text and call if necessary) the entire time I was there and he was on vacation. His mother also was available by phone. Check in and check out were seamless with his mother despite my limited Italian and no French. Maury checked in with me several times while I was arriving and while I was there to make sure things were ok.
The apartment is a large studio apt on the top floor with a large wrap-around balcony. There are comfortable chairs out there and an outside table. The view is great. It borders a main thoroughfare below but I never felt overwhelmed by noise (I’m from NYC though so you may want to look at other reviews re: noise as my threshold is high). That said, I also did not hear noise from other apartments. There are lots of windows to let air and light in. All the windows open/close easily and the drop-down blinds can also be truly shut fully to block out all light if you need some daytime sleep in darkness.
Apartment was easy to access with a small but well-working elevator. There is one flight of stairs necessary after you get out of the elevator. Fortunately, this is a nice wide set of stairs (unlike lots of older buildings in Italy). The locks worked well and the building and neighborhood felt safe anyway. People I saw in the building were friendly without being nosy. The apartment was very clean. The bathroom is next to the bed but there is a window in the bathroom and the door closes well. The shower had decent pressure. For US standards, it was a typically small Italian shower (though I’ve been in smaller). There is no bathtub. Water did not leak and there was hot water. The air in the apartment was fresh and there are lots of windows anyway. The air conditioner works well and is quiet. I don’t know about the need for, availability of or functionality of heating as I was there in the summer. The bed is a Murphy bed. I think king-sized but at least a queen. I’ve never slept on a Murphy bed and was surprised at how comfortable this one was. I often wake up with lower back discomfort from beds and I did not experience that here. Bed comfort is super personal - I would rate this as a relatively firm bed (but not too hard either) which was great for me. There is storage space for clothes. There was an easily accessed outlet and USB-2 port next to the bed. There is a decent-sized tv hung on the wall which I did not use. Fridge is mid-sized (ie- bigger than a large dorm fridge but not a full-sized fridge you would find in the US). I did not cook there and cannot comment on cooking facilities. There was a small table in the kitchen - I did not see another table but here may be one stored so best to ask if you think you need a larger one. There was an instant coffee maker (Nespresso) with some pods provided. There was a stovetop moka pot there but it was in a cabinet with what seemed like personal items so you may want to ask if it’s available - he’d probably let you use it, I just never asked. I did not see an American style drip percolator. It is Italy and there is an abundance of fresh espresso and such available in cafes and bars everywhere and never far away - this neighborhood included.
The neighborhood is south of Trastevere. It is not a party neighborhood and is outside the Aurelian walls and is more modern in construction. It is not central for walk-around tourism and it is not the experience of walking around Central/old Rome with incredibly cute alleys everywhere, monuments and Roman ruins. It is a safe residential neighborhood filled with normal Italians and not swamped with tourists - and is great for just those reasons. It is lively with daily life during the day and has a decent amount of restaurants for checking out at night. You will not find an active night-time club or bar scene here (some may exist - it’s just not why you’re there). I will say that the best bruschetta AND pizza I had in all of Italy was in that neighborhood at a place called “Dios”. That is clearly biased but it is what it is. You can walk from this neighborhood to Trastevere but the speed of that will vary. Personally I saved my walking for the central parts of Rome and took buses or cabs to get to the apt as I was not there long. There are a couple of bus lines that pass right across the street from the building (around the corner from the entrance) - the 781 is perfect for taking to Trastevere train station, Trastevere itself and also Piazza Venezia for a central drop-off. A 5-minute walk gets you to an even more major thoroughfare with a bus line (170) to Termini (the main train station) as well as other bus lines. If you want to take cabs I suggest asking for the number of the local cab company. You can use FreeNow MyTaxi as well which seems to be popular to use and of course requires no Italian to call. Unfortunately there is no metro station in the immediate area though certainly it is walking distance to one - though not a distance I would want to do with significant luggage or bags. The astute public transportation rider will notice that it will be faster