What is the best way to find out about reasonable accomodations in monasteries between Florence and Rome? For September 2002.

I bought a great book called 'lodging in italy's monasteries' by Eileen Barish. There are hundreds of convents/monasteries listed. I stayed at one in Rome near the colosseum and train station - <BR>http://www.suorebambinogesu.it/DNB/camere2.html<BR>it was very clean, spacious, full private bathroom, AC.<BR>I also stayed at one in Florence but it doesn't have a website. The only drawback was that you can't share a room with a member of the opposite sex (unless its your kid) and unless you are "as a family" (married).<BR>The rooms were gorgeous, the convent takes up an entire city block and is walled off with beautiful gardens and it only cost about 50 bucks a night CAD (so about 40 USD)<BR>If you want any info on the one in florence you can email me (my real address is [email protected])I'll see if I can find my journal from the trip so you could have the fax/phone number.<BR><BR>Good Luck!

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Dear Bob,<BR>The book Julie is refering to has a website www.monasteriesofitaly.com. It has pictures and short descriptions of the different locations. If you need some help deciding which one to use, email me as I have the book also. I have booked reservations at 3 of them as I will be going for 3 weeks at the end of June and into July. The prices are quite reasonable and most will include breakfast. Lunch and dinner are sometimes available for a nominal charge.

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Another book to check out is "Bed and Blessings" by June Walsh. It lists many convents in Rome and other parts of Italy.

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I would say that the best way to do that is to find a friend who belongs to the religious order and ask them. Usually the best ones are used by friends or family of the religious. Most of them are not found in any book.

I'll second what Babs says. I have had some fabulous accommodations through personal recommendations. Also, while staying in one place, ask the host (guestmaster/mistress) or fellow guests for suggestions. In one case they even phoned the place up to check if it was ok for me to stay.<BR>Most such places aren't commercial operations and their guest rooms are meant for retreats and conferences rather than tourism. I always make the point of attending at least one of their services and showing sensitive appreciation of religious life.

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Julie---<BR><BR>In reference to the convent that you stayed at in Rome----how far was it from the train station and did they serve breakfast?<BR><BR>Thanks

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crp--<BR>Go to the website julie mentions, then click on 'mappa.'

I saw the bambino gesu convent in Rome recently. It was very close to the train station (3-6 mins leisurely walk). However Via Cavour is quite a busy street as you would expect being near the train station. It may be a little noisy at the convent.

Just make sure to ask for a room that looks over the small garden. It is surrounded by the convent walls and at night I didn't hear any traffic (though I had the windows closed since there is air conditioning) If I remember correctly two full floors looked onto the garden rather than onto the street so you shouldn't have a problem getting the type of room that you want.<BR>Best of Luck!