panucci

I was about to book at Del Senato and found out the Pantheon is about to be restored. Since I don't want to look out of my room and see a big Fila gym shoe or huge Lancome lips on scafolding I am opting for a different hotel. 200E-300E any suggestions? Stayed at Santa Chiara last year and really liked it, but I would like to try some place different.

Gariem

We stayed at the recently ('98?) opened Hotel Ponte Sisto this past June. Their website quotes rates from Eur 310 but if you book through Reservation Italy's website and pay the first night's deposit we paid Eur 180/nt. Great deal for a four star, near Campo dei Fiori in the centro storico. Large rooms by Rome standards and decent air-conditioning, a must for most at this time of the year. Buon viaggio!

Melissajoy

Hotel Nazionale a Montecitorio is in your price range for a nice double room. It has a very central location on the Piazza Montecitorio next to the national parliament. We had room 407, a nice room on one of the upper floors (not on ground level), with 2 windows with nice drapes and shutters that you can open just for fun...and a view from this room of the interesting national parliament building, and the relatively tranquil piazza below. No noise at night from this room...nice and quiet.

From this location you can walk to the Pantheon (don't worry you can't see it from this hotel, so if they are restoring it that won't effect you from this hotel.) Also you can walk to the Trevi fountain, piazza Navona, spanish steps, and a little further but still very walkable is the colosseum and the roman forum. Also lots of great ristorantes and Giolitti's gelato place easy to walk to from this hotel.

Web-site www.nazionaleroma.it Some people confuse this hotel with others that have similar names...confusingly, there's also a Hotel Internazionale and even a Hotel Nazionale in Italy, but there's only one Hotel Nazionale a Montecitorio...on Piazza Montecitorio.

We had a a very nice double room with a nice bathroom for 238 euros...booked directly with the hotel on their web-site, and this was high season in June. This is a 4-star hotel, with a nice filling buffet breakfast.

Am I going on and on? It's because the whole family had a fantastic time for our 4 nights in Rome! We voted Rome the "most fun" city, and I think it's partly because this hotel has a fantastic location, every direction in which you walk from this hotel there's something to see, day and night!

Okay, I'll stop gushing. Have fun! Also, from this hotel, Hotel Nazionale a Montecitorio, it's best to take the public bus to St. peter's and the Vatican Museums. If you have 4 or fewer people and you can find an official taxi stand, you can also get a cheap taxi to St. peter's. Public bus is cheap but hot and crowded in June.

Oh, one more thing...I had to attempt to book repeatedly, over a couple of weeks, to get these rooms at this hotel, because it was booked. But I kept trying and eventually they must have had cancellations because I did get our rooms, 1 double and 1 triple. The double was a better price...The triple was overpriced because it was a deluxe room, but that's all I could get. I took it because it was a great location, and we wer all pleased.

marcy_

panucci,
When is the restoration supposed to start?

We're staying at the Del Senato in September, and it WILL be disappointing if our view is just of scaffolding!

jody

Here's a good article on the need ( or lack of )of restorations at the Pantheon

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...jjjjjjomo|jo|N

panucci

Melissajoy, it is hard not to gush about Rome. It is by far my favorite city. I will look on their website and I have already emailed Ponte Sisto. They have many good reports on this forum. Thanks

panucci

Hi Gariem
What website did you book through?

panucci

ttt

3gigs

We're staying at the Del Senato in October and have reserved a Pantheon-view room (285 euros). Yesterday I e-mailed the hotel manager to ask about the schedule for restoration at the Pantheon and its effect on the rooms with views at the Del Senato. Today I received a reply in which the manager said work is currently underway, but solely in the interior, and that exterior work is not planned for "a year or two." She provided me with a phone number for the Pantheon to verify this information (06/68300230). I'd be interestd in what others have learned about the schedule for restoration. Thanks.

atcken

My wife, son, and I just got back from a trip to Italy (trip report soon) and our 1st 3 days were in Roma. We stayed at the Colonna Palace, which is close to the Pantheon but not within view of the building. 3gigs is right - when we toured the Pantheon, there was some scaffolding on the interior but none outside. Anyway, Colonna Palace was a fantastic hotel - great rooms, service, and the rooftop terrace with morning breakfasts were perfect. Here is a link to my Rome photo page - the first several pictures are of the Colonna Palace:
Hi,

Okay - I've started to upload the pictures from our Italy trip. Each page has a limit of 48 pictures so I will be creating pages as I can. The first page is selected pictures of our 3 days in Rome. Here is the url:

http://homepage.mac.com/kenwilson/PhotoAlbum12.html

Enjoy.

Ken

francophile03

Thanks for sharing your great photos, Ken. They bring back alot of really nice memories of my Roman visit in June '01.

atcken

Francophile03,

Sure - I've viewed many other peoples photos through this site - thought it was my turn. I'll post more as I upload them to my site (took over 1000 pictures on our trip - although I don't think I'll post all of those <G&gt.

Ken

panucci

I called a friend in Rome to look into this and he said there is restoration scheduled for this summer. I don'tknow when and if it is inside or outside. I called Del Senato and they said they never heard of ANY restoration this summer, ha ha. I might still book a room since I have always wanted to stay there and I love the area. Maybe the scaffolding will have a huge picture of a sexy Italian?

Renee

I was at the Hotel Nazionale this past March and I have to second Melissajoy's observation. This hotel is very centrally located...we were even able to walk to the Vatican as well as the Coliseum with very little effort. We walked to the pantheon practically everyday to sit by the fountain. We were a little taken aback to see a Mickey D's right across the plaza from it though! lol We got the hotel through a package deal via go-today. Have a great trip!

Gariem

Not sure what "ttt" means, but I booked the Hotel Ponte Sisto through

www.reservationitaly.com