Rome Apartment #483
Colosseo / Via Panisperna

July 2012

Before we left our home the owner of the apartment contacted us we accepted his offer to pick us up at the airport (40 Euros). He was a very nice person.

The location of the apartment is indeed very good. Not far from many historical sites and shopping areas.

The layout of the apartment is somewhat odd: The small entrance hall and the bedroom (large) are separated by a very long corridor from the kitchen and the terrace. Part of the corridor serves as a “bedroom”, i.e. there is a bed for one person (not very convenient if you want to sleep in). This setup makes that the declared 100 square meters are hardly noticeable and makes that the apartment is ok for two people but not really for 4, as announced in its description. (We are still puzzling where the forth person is supposed to sleep.)

The cooking area in the kitchen/living-room is small and thus it was rather hard to cook (and the lack of utensils was no help either). Also we found that the cleanliness of the fridge, oven, and cooking utensils were not very satisfactory (greasy, one pan with a cooked noodle on the bottom,...) which forced us to do a major cleaning operation before we could use these items. Same thing for the bathroom.

A bummer was the terrace: Although it is quite large, there are no table/chairs like on the photography, a shame since for us this was one of the main selling points of the apartment. When we made a remark about this, the owner proposed us to use two broken chairs and planks instead of table...

The bedroom: It is large but unfortunately it faces the street and it is not very soundproof. In the first night we realized that very close-by there is a restaurant that has its tables installed on the street. As a result there is quite a bit of noise that stops only after midnight. In the morning we were awoken at 6am by garbage trucks and other cars. Of course we shut the windows but this resulted in an unpleasantly high temperature in the room. The AC was not great help here, since it was very old and thus very noisy. Thus we had the choice between the noise of the street and and the one of the AC. Grumble.... If this would have been a hotel we would have left the place after two nights.

In summary the main advantage of the apartment is its location. But apart from this we feel it to be way to expensive for what it offers. At 120Euros/day one can find quite decent hotels in the same area and then have a way better service.

First of all I want to say I am very sorry if the apartment has not been appreciated in this particulary occasion. I understand that a negative perception of an environment can spoil your feelings and your staying in a certain place.

But sincerely I am not agreed with the negative comments stated here for the following reasons:

-“The layout of the apartment is somewhat odd”

If you want a modern and more common layout you do not choose an apartment in a building dating back at the end of eighteen century. On the contrary the so said oddness layout of the apartment is what gives to it a special touch and a different charm with all the wood beams around and the unusual distribution of the space. The apartment has been very comfortably used by families with four members. It is the lack of power of observation or imagination that does not aloud to realize that a sofa bed can prove the existence of a fourth bed.

-“The small hall entrance”

Can you call an hall entrance of 13’35 meters square fulfilled with authentic antique furniture like a mid eighteen century wood and velvet sofa and a giant mirror with his bottom console of the same epoch a small entrance???

-The cooking area in the kitchen/living is small…..”

The kitchen/living area measures 20 meters square and 6 of them are for cooking.

-“ The cooking utensils were not very satisfactory…..”

The apartment is a lived-in flat and consequently it is organized with all the utensils required for cooking….unless you are used to a grand chef type of cooking and therefore you need those specials restaurant tools. Regarding the cleaning conditions of the kitchen maybe it happened the the guy in charge of it had not seen a pan with a piece of noodle on the bottom,( even though I would be very surprised). This can occur in every good restaurant.

But to say that the bathroom cleaning conditions were not satisfactory I found it very gratuitous, since not only cleaning but also disinfecting is our very first target.

- A bummer was the terrace…”

- The same table and chairs shown on the photo are provided. But since in addition 2 deck-chairs are also provided, in according with the different use of the terrace, you can either open the deck-chairs and sunbathe, or with an operation of half a minute you can display the table ready for lunch or dinner.

- “The bedroom it is large……”

All the apartments facing the main street in Roma have a higher  real estate value compared to others. Via Panisperna is an historical and very important street of the town and ,like all the area around ,  is very much requested. The centre of Roma it is fulfilled with trattorias and restaurants and every single building has one of them below. Of course you are not in the country side where you can only hear birds singing. And finally every A C machine makes noise. Anyway there is not hotel in this very central area of Roma that for 120 euro can provide you with all the opportunities and the feeling of living the town as an apartment like this does,Especially if you intend to remain more than 1week. One thing is to be confined in a hotel room, and something else is to have at your disposal a 100 square meters apartment with 20 square meters green terrace.

I would like to close with a different comment that a couple from Denmark, Mr. Alan and Mrs. Jette Mc Kanzie ,who stayed here not log ago, left :

Dear Sir,

Thank you very much for the use of your lovely  Roman home. We very much appreciated being in a lived-in flat, in that it mean the knives were sharp & the lights all worked. Thank you also for your recommendations & all your preparation work.

Kind regards