Rummaging through files I finally found the article from the Washington Post on staying in convents: "Pray as You Go: Italy's Religious Guest Houses" by Lois Brunner Bastian in the 20 Jul 97 edition. (The Post's search routine stinks, so I have never been able to get it from the archives). She mentions four sites: Fraterna Domus, Via Mont Brianzo 62, 00186 Rome; Alma Domus, Via Camporegio 37, Siena; Seminario Sant'Andrea, Viale Vittorio Veneto 2, Volterra and Instituto San Giuseppe, Ponte della Guerra, Castello 5402, Venice. I have stayed with the Suore Francescane, 35 Via Nicolo V, Rome and found this to be a frugal and comfortable alternative. Does anybody else have other convents or monasteries that they have stayed at and their experiences there?
Staying in Italian convents: your experiences
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The only convent we have stayed at is in Volterra. We had a very nice room, bathrooms down the hall, but we find that no problem. I don't remember the cost but I don't think it was expensive. This was not an alternative, we sought it out, we had read about it and thought it would be interesting and sure'nuff it was. Thanks for your locations, we'll log them for future use, Italy is our favorite country.
I stayed at San Giuseppe in September 2000 with 3 friends (all women) and would recommend it, with a few reservations. They have an 11pm curfew; none of the sisters spoke English; and you have to be buzzed in and out the front door. One of us spoke Italian so the language issue wasn't a big problem for us. We had a huge room with about 10 single beds and a full bath. It was very clean. Someone came in to clean, make the beds, and put out new towels (and we only stayed 2 nights!) while we were out during the day. We felt very safe all locked in with the nuns each night. It was in a great location, very close to St. Mark's, maybe a 2 minute walk. There was a decent restaurant right over the bridge outside the door. We had to leave very early, I think by 6am, for our flight and had to ask specially for someone to let us out at that hour. There is an elementary school on site but you couldn't hear them from our room. It was very cheap - I don't remember the exact amount but I think we each paid about $15 a day. I would stay there again.