RomeRents.com apartment

When our family of nine — grandparents and two grandchildren (15 and 11) along with parents, aunts and uncle — ended a transatlantic cruise in Rome, ITALY, in April ’08, we wanted to reasonably enjoy a few days of touring and still be together. An apartment rented through the website www.RomeRents.com more than met our expectations.

Since our first criterion was an apartment that slept nine, we had only a few options available, although there were many apartment choices if our group had been smaller. Never having been to Rome before, we used a map of the major sites and tried to find a location close by. And were we fortunate! At a price of €380 (near $598) per night, we found the perfect place for much less than what hotel rooms would have cost.

We arrived by ship at the port of Civitavecchia and through Rome Connection (www.romeconnection.com) had prearranged for a van to transport us to the apartment (€120, or $189, for the first two persons and €10 for each additional).

Since it was a Sunday, we had to pay an extra 25-euro fee to the building manager to be met and admitted, as the apartment was actually on the upper floor of an office building.

Reached after entering a large reception hall, the tastefully furnished apartment offered four bedrooms, two full baths, an eat-in kitchen and a huge living room/dining room (one daughter chose to sleep there rather than share a room with the grandchildren). There was a washing machine and dryer (both welcome after our 14-day sea voyage) and a fully equipped kitchen.

We did have some challenges using the unfamiliar cooking implements and lighting the gas oven, and when all the electricity in the apartment went out the first evening, we couldn’t find a control panel. However, when we called our English-speaking contact person, someone eventually came to trip a switch in the basement so we had lights again.

All of us were very pleased with the location. We were near the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain plus a supermarket. Bus and metro service was only two blocks away. Situated on the corner of two central streets, Via Crispi and Via Tritone, our unit had a wraparound view of both thoroughfares, which made for excellent people-watching.

Being adventuresome, most of us walked all over the central part of Rome, from the Colosseum to the Borghese Gardens to Piazza Navona.

Staying there put the finishing touch on a great vacation.

ETHEL BRODIE

Discovery Bay, CA