My girlfriend and I had a wonderful experience in Maria's place! She is very nice and agreeable, she even picked us up from the airport, which is something not every host will do. The place is exactly how it is shown in the pictures, and she keeps it very clean. She left us some fruit, croissants and cookies too! The metro station is right around the corner if you are going to be taking the metro, but we personally walked everywhere. The Vatican truly is about 10 minutes away, 5 minutes if you walk fast. Most tourist attractions were about a 30 minute walk away, but keep in mind that Rome is a very large city, so some attractions can be a bit far. The metro is easy to use and there are stops everywhere. This place is outside of the tourist area, so the places around the apartment are mostly locals. There was normal city noise outside, but nothing you really aren't going to get at any other place. We highly recommend Maria's place!