Has anyone stayed in this apartment before? http://www.realrome.com/propreginella1.html or has any experience with this location.
We, three adults and one little child, plan to be in Rome for 5 nights in early March of 2008. I know that the apartment does not have AC, is it going to be a problem in Rome in March? Thanks for your help.

See this Fodor's thread:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35001688

I've booked the same apartment for a week in October 2008. It's in the Jewish Ghetto, a small area beside the Camp di Fiori. From what I understand, it is a very atmospheric neighbourhood with interesting shops and restaurants, very quiet at night, and well located for sightseeing.

Vttraveler is a poster who has stayed in that apartment- try doing a search with her name.

As for AC, I don't believe it should be an issue in early March.

Air conditioning in March...

You should be so lucky!!!!!

You will want layers of clothing in the evenings --

Days may be moderate enough to omit scarf and hat

AIR CONDITIONING!!

Sorry I didn't notice this post earlier. Our family (two adults and teenage son) did rent this apartment earlier this year. We were there late February to early March and definitely had no need for air conditioning. We were lucky enough to have great weather during our stay but that meant temperatures up to the 70's during the day and definitely much cooler overnight.

We loved the location--really enjoyed the ghetto neighborhood and found the apartment to be very centrally located.

I think the description on the realrome website is quite accurate and we found Tim Pearson very pleasant to deal with.

If you have any other specific questions I would be glad to try to answer

Hi dude , Rome is a very beautiful city and one of the most amazing cities all over europe .
I think you should you using with Rome Travel Guide .
You can check and read a lot of information at http://www.rometravelguide365.com .
Bye bye

NickSD and Apres_Londee--
Just found a website with some great pictures of different shops in the ghetto, right near the apartment
http://www.romanhomes.com/your_roman...ighborhood.htm

Thanks for the link, Vttraveler. It looks like such a neat area, I think I'm going to love it there.

As I am sure you can tell, we really enjoyed our stay in that neighborhood.
One book that I read before our visit that is linked to the Piazza Mattei is The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr. The painting history is tied up with the Mattei family.

Thank you Vttraveler for the info. So far, I have booked the apartment for March. I am so looking forward to the trip.

Vttraveler:

I am getting ready for my trip in less then 2 weeks and we plan to be in Rome for 5 nights. Traveling with my 78 year old mom and our 18 month daughter will be the greatest challenge for us so far. Since you have stayed in the same apartment before, I have some questions for you regarding the surrounding areas:
1) Are there a market and a laundromat near the apartment? Did you have to use the laundromat or you just used the washer machine in the apartment and laid clothes out to dry?
2) Is the apartment close to the bus stop? Do you remember what bus # or ways to get around quickly from the apartment?
3) Any good eat around the area? Any good budget place you found would be great also?

Thanks for your help.

Dear Nick
Some quick answers to your questions
(1) we just used the washing machine and drying racks provided in the apartment. I can't remember seeing any laundromat nearby. Realrome provides a book about the area and Rome in general and it might list a laundromat. I am sure you could ask Tim Pearson about this by email, too.
there is a small supermarket a few blocks southwest of the apartment. It will be marked on the map that Realrome gives you. There are also some other small bakeries and shops even closer. The Campo de Fiori food market is quite close, too

(2) The apartment is close to the Largo di Torre Argentina which is a major public transit hub for different bus routes. You can also catch a #8 tram south to Trastevere, the neighborhood just across the Tiber, by walking a few blocks west to Via Arenula or a #23 bus to the Vatican area by walking a few blocks south (along the Tiber). There was a bus map in the apartment when we were there or you can pick one up at the tourist office.

(3) The ghetto neighborhood is known for good traditional Roman cooking.There are are several good restaurants right on Via del Portico d'Ottavia, around the corner from the apartment. We found Il Portico, at #1e, to be very reasonably priced with good food. There is a snack bar with pizza and some hot dishes you can get to take out on Via dei Falegnami, off Piazza Mattei

One thing you probably want to think about in the apartment: there is a spiral staircase from the living room area to the upstairs bedroom. It will probably be very attractive to an 18 month old and you will want to figure out how to keep her from trying to climb the stairs

Our family went to Rome almost exactly a year ago and we have all been thinking how nice it would be to go again this year!

Dear Vttraveler,

Thank you so much for your quick response. I felt much better after reading it. I am in the process of planning our daily schedule for our trip (at a slow pace). Thanks for the head's up on the spiral staircase, I just look at the picture of the apartment again...wow. Thanks again for your help.

I thought of a few other things that might be helpful:

Last year the description of the apartment did not include the fact that there is a microwave in the kitchen area as well as gas burners.

You and your family might want to use the hop on/hop off bus (#110) run by the tourist office at least one day. It is an open top double decker bus and takes a route to many of the major sites. We didn't use it but with a young child and your mother you might find it the most convenient way to see some areas. There is also an archeobus route that runs down to the Via Appia Antica/catacombs area

The apartment is very near a cat sanctuary at the SW corner of the Area Sacra dell'Argentina. Your daughter will probably enjoy looking out over this area with temple ruins to see the cats lounging there. (Our family stopped to do this and count the cats several times a day)

I was thinking about Bus 110 but it got mixed reviews here as people were not able to get on crowded bus and had to wait for the next one. Please correct me if I am wrong but I think it won't be a problem for us since early March is a slow time compared to summer. I must also admit that using open tour bus in Paris on my first day there did give me a good overview of the city. After that, using the metro system in Paris was so easy. I will definitely consider using Bus 110 this time again. Now I am just hoping there's a 110 stop close to where we stay. Thanks for your help. By the way, my daughter loves cats.

We saw the 110 bus going by different times when we were there last year late Feb/early March. It did not look crowded. We did not have any trouble getting seats on the archeobus which I did use.
I think you could find the routes on line.