We very much loved our stay in the Ghetto in Rome and would definitely stay again. Luca’s flat was very well located, bright, comfortable, and spacious for a couple with one child. There is only one flight of stairs to climb so it’s pretty easy with suitcases too. The street below is pedestrian and full of nice restaurants, which is also a big plus. Most of the restaurants below are kosher and the food was very good. The ghetto felt relaxing and somehow sheltered from the chaos of Rome so it was a very enjoyable place to return to after a tiring day of sightseeing. It’s also a stone throw away from the river and the trendy gourmet district of Trastevere beyond.
The apartment is directly above a restaurant but it closes early enough that it isn’t a problem. In fact it we thoroughly enjoyed having nice places to eat just below, which was especially convenient with a child. The garbage trucks do hang around outside waiting after the restaurants close though, so while this was not audible from the bedrooms on the courtyard side if you’re thinking of staying here as a group with someone in the living room it could be loud for the person using the sofa bed. A very sensitive person might be a bit bothered by the restaurant fridge humming in the courtyard but my son who slept right over it was fine.
We loved the little child bedroom attached to the main bedroom. It’s a sweet cosy space. The one problem with the layout was that the child bedroom can only be accessed through the large bedroom, so whoever sleeps there must walk through the master bedroom to use the bathroom or go to the living area so it’s easy for people to wake each other up.
The flat could do with a few small improvements. We were rather bothered by having zero privacy in the toilet and shower that are plainly visible through the window from the buildings on the opposite side of the courtyard, as there are no blinds! We found ourselves using the toilet in the dark to avoid being seen quite so clearly.
We are also glad we didn’t plan to cook, as while there were tons of utensils, the kitchen was not very clean and the fridge smelled bad, and the one time we did try and cook it seemed one of the stove rings wasn’t working. The kitchen table was plainly dirty with visible stains.
More jarring than these small inconveniences was that the host was rude, implying gratuitously that I had clogged his toilet, instead of telling me where the plunger was located when I asked. We actually lost a lot of time looking for one when he could and should have told us where it was. Luckily the maid who’s number we had was more forthcoming and told me where to find it, and then the problem was easily solved. I will give our host the benefit of the doubt and assume he must have had some pretty savage guests before us to be so quick in making accusations.
We also would have appreciated being warned before our arrival that it would be a nightmare getting a taxi from the station on a Sunday night, causing us to arrive at the flat much later than planned. It took a whopping hour and a half to arrive from the station as we had to find the right buses after waiting in vain in the endless taxi queues. This was especially difficult with a tired child. Had we been given any warning about the Sunday night transport mayhem we could have planned to arrive in Rome earlier.