Rome quarters rationale
Probably the two most important central quarters are the Piazza Navona area and the Spanish Steps area.
If you are more interested in Renaissance and in the Baroque period architecture, if you like cosy alleys with most varied people (tourists and artists), great monuments and tiny artsy squares, intriguing cafes and restaurants facing directly a little square, perhaps then you should stay in the Piazza Navona area
The Spanish Steps area (which includes also the Trevi Fountain district) is Rome's most chic and glitzy, for its events, its shops and boutiques. Despite its somewhat elitarian setting, it has a very pleasant ambience, making you sense the "La Dolce Vita" the Roman way. If you like V.I.P. areas, this is the place to stay.
However, the same could be said about the Piazza Navona area, and you have beautiful churches and sights in the Spanish Steps quarter as well, so it is just a matter of "relative concentration" of the ingredients. After all, it is not surprising, even in the good old days of Shelley and Keats there was the same situation. It's the Eternal City rekindling itself every day.
The Campo de' Fiori area is cherished by Romans as it is surely Rome's most lively quarter. It has a somewhat intriguing Bohemian atmosphere. It is also made of two different areas. The one just around the square on one hand has the groceries and veg market facility, yet on the other hand it lacks of cleanliness. However, all poets and writers praised even this feature, as a sign of its genuine character.
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Horses ("cavalli" in Italian) of a carriage parked in front of the boutique Cavalli, by the Steps
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Quite differently, the area of Campo de' Fiori away from the square has features which cannot be distinguished from Piazza Navona, in terms of richness of works of art, monuments, churches, and for its varied urban layout and richness of restaurants / cafes, making Campo de' Fiori one of the most desirable areas for both travellers and Romans.
The Jewish Quarter borders Campo de' Fiori, and it is home to the most ancient Western Jewish community. It has a great personality, and no European quarter can possibly claim to have the same cultural and historical heritage.
Campo de' Fiori should be your choice if you want to stay near the former "Ghetto" (as within it vacation rentals are normally not organized). |
The 110 round tourist bus |
The Spanish Steps area has also two distinctive features: a subway stop (the network is small, because of the archeological excavations all over town), which is useful to go to St. Peter's, to the train station and to the Roman Forum, and above all it borders Rome's most central park, the Borghese Gardens, Europe's most ancient park, with an inspiring landscape and mesmerising panoramic views of Rome's centre.
Another quarter you should consider is Monti. Very cosy and not glitzy like the others, it is very characteristic because Romans still live here. So you could really feel at home, an Italian home.
There are also many family-run grocery stores, which are disappearing in Rome. People will be friendly with you. The restaurant owners still remember the table where Enrico Fermi sat for his meals. In the other quarters, most restaurant owners don't even remember... who the previous owner was.
There are also many masterpieces and monuments in the quarter: Michelangelo's Moses, Trajan's Forum, the Roman Forum, St. Mary Major Basilica, Nero's Domus Aurea etc.
At easy walking distance, or short bus/metro ride thanks to excellent transport, you can reach all Rome's sites. |
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The Coliseum is situated in the Monti-Esquiline quarter |
In the end, where staying in Rome?
Although the quarters are remarkably different, what is really important is staying in *any* of the highly central quarters: Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, Monti, Campo de' Fiori etc.
Why? No quarter represents entirely Rome, they form together an outstanding town, the most charming and romantic in the world, and surely the most important from a religious, historical, monumental, and artistic point of view. No matter in which quarter you will stay, you will still have to visit *all* the others, because sites, monuments, fountains, churches, masterpieces, famous cafes, just everything, are scattered in all the quarters. So each quarter has some ingredient of the intriguing Roman recipe. Moreover, all the quarters are *quite near*.
So don't worry too much about... throwing the dice and making your decision: in the end what is important is staying in the historical centre ("Centro Storico"), and you should reduce your anxiety to find the perfect, special place in Rome.
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The rotation of the dice will follow the movement of your mouse cursor.
- Click once to bring any of the faces forward.
- Click again the face, the dice will rotate again.
- If you click it twice, you will go instead to the page presenting the monument. |
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What property choosing?
It is naturally hard to advise you about what property choosing, as we all have different preferences and requirements. However we advise you *to reach a mature or informative decision*.
(1) The first aspect you should consider is the location. As mentioned, don't rack your brain, simply because Rome's 1000s sights are scattered all over the various quarters, so you will be roaming around all the quarters in any case.
The quarter however is the place where *you will get back at night* during the rest hours, so you should consider it the place you would like to have as *your home* in Rome: where you dine at restaurants after sightseeing, where you have your morning "cappuccino" etc.
(2) Second: consider naturally your *budget*, or consider what you can really afford. Of course, prices - in general - vary according to the quality of properties.
(3) Third (for some people it is the first aspect): choose the property which you *really like* after consulting the various internet sites and agencies. However, this brings to the next point:
(4) Fourth (and absolutely not least!): bear in mind that international vacation rentals, especially handled over the internet, are *full of deceiving properties and offers*. What you see in the photos and descriptions frequently (or in most cases) is not what you are going to get in the end!
We advise you to read this page presenting this most frequent and unpleasant reality:
Pitfalls in choosing the vacation rental agency
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How to choose the right agency
The key factor about which you shouldn't just throw the dice is choosing a good agency.
Forget naturally the agency publicity ("We are the best..." etc.), forget especially the "reviews" on travel sites, as they are a hype, the editors select the very bad reviews of difficult people, or the extra good ones, just to make their sites more alluring, without allowing replies of owners or agents. Finally, when the reviews are good, they are frequently in cahoots with the agencies.
Also references are a bad criterion. In fact on one hand they are ineffective as they can be deceivingly manipulated by bad people, and on the other hand they violate the privacy of good people. Moreover, they cannot be part of the regular working cycle of a reputable and thus popular agency, processing every daily many inquiries. |
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We suggest TWO GOLDEN RULES:
(1) Think twice before renting from internet sites and agencies which are "portals", IE which simply collect and publish publicity of properties. Prefer agencies and web sites representing selected (consequently limited) properties, which they know and handle *directly*.
More on this point
(2) Evaluate how the vacation rental company and the agents will interact with you. Evaluate how reliable they seem, how informative they are. In other words evaluate how trustworthy and professional they result.
Remember, in the end you have *people* on the other side offering you a service (which includes *also* an apartment or villa): their professionalism and their expertise is what you are actually buying.
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