Please Review Accommodations in Rome and Venice
 

Traveling 5/08 - High Season.
We are a family of 4 and trying to get the best value we can. We like to stay right in the middle of the action. I would most appreciate any thoughts on the accommodations I've narrowed down:

Rome -
Thru SleepinItaly - 200E/night
Apt Piazza Monte Di Pieta
Campo dei Fiori area

Venice -
Apt Corte Grimani Residence, 320E
Hotel Violino d' Oro - 400E
Hotel Mercurio - 230E
They advised that the construction will be finished by then. Should I rely on that?

Thanking you all as always for your wonderful advice! It's been a lifesaver.

Can anyone give me their opinion on these accommodations?? Thanks.

Corte Grimani will be perfect. It is quite close to everything and very nice. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Sept 2006. Enjoy!

I considered the Monte di Pieta apartment. It looks really good for 4 people with the 2 bedrooms, and the location is good. In fact, it has been mentioned several times here - I just typed in monte di pieta (not using the topics box) into the search box above, and up came 30 threads featuring those words! Many of those threads will be about this apartment.

And here is another lovely apartment in Piazza Monte di Pieta, rented through an English couple...

http://www.aplaceinrome.com/pieta01.shtml

Good luck and have a great trip!

I know you did not ask for more suggestions but ... we stayed at B&B Gli Angeli in Venice- outstanding! Sonia is the owner (lives on top apartment). We were a group of 4 and I would strongly recommend this place for price, location, helpfulness etc. Let me know if you want more information.

If you'd type "Monte di pieta" in the search you would have seen my reviews of the apt since my husband and I stayed there a week in January. Here's some of my responses:

Author: sandi_travelnut
Date: 04/27/2007, 05:59 pm
I agree w/ what SAB says. I'm a very light sleeper and this apt was quiet. No view but adequate natural light. Great mini-kitchen but we couldn't get the oven to work. Close-by grocery store and great pedstiran streets w/ wall to wall shopping. Excellent area. Sleep in Italy took immediate action on the one issue we had which was a broken toilet.

From my trip report:
By this time it was 3pm and we were scheduled to meet Giorgio from Sleep in Italy at 4pm to get the keys. We had no phone with us (Lesson #2 – We will never travel again without a cell phone) and I tried to find a public phone around our piazza and tried to find a kind stranger to let us use their phone. After 30 minutes of looking and asking, I finally asked 2 older gentlemen if I could use their phone. They were very sweet and made the call for me to the SIL (Sleep in Italy) office..Giorgio was on his way.

Giorgio appeared 10 minutes later and let us into the apartment. He showed us everything and was very thorough. He told us that there was a caretaker of the apartment building who was on site from 9a-1p in case we needed anything. I was pleased so far with SIL’s service and response to our questions and the quality of the apartment. We were left with keys in hand and a very empty stomach.
http://www.sleepinitaly.com/files/ap...dipiet%E0.html
(Apartment was 160 euro per night for 2 people plus 45 euro final cleaning)

Campo Monte di Pieta, where the apartment is, is surrounded by great shopping, cafes and a high-end but small supermarket that has a good variety of meats, cheeses, bread, fresh and frozen produce and household items. This store was a God send as we had to stock up on soap, paper towels, olive oil, coffee etc for the apartment. The Campo itself is quite small and is used exclusively as a parking lot. There is a very high-end jewelry store next door to the apartment building so the older gentlemen that were so kind to me, happen to be guards for the store. They could be seen everyday, all day, hanging around in front of the entrance to the apartment building and the store itself.

Hello Italy 08,

We have stayed at Corte Grimani twice, and we loved it each time! The location is fabulous (literally a one- to two-minute walk to St. Mark's Square), the apartments are very nice, and the staff is top-notch. I highly recommend Corte Grimani.

We have also twice used SleepInItaly, tho not the apartment you listed. We found their service very prompt and courteous, and the apartments were as listed on their website. I would not hesitate to choose this agency again in the future.

Hope this helps.

Happy travels!

Many thanks to all of you for your assistance!! Planning this trip has been an experience all by itself!

Julia_t, I will check out your link also.

Julieann, I can always use a suggestion, thanks. I will investigate that one too!