quiet hotels: convents?
 

I dont care about luxury, just clean and quiet. Does anyone have any experience with convents in Rome and Tuscany?
Thanks.

Hello, Kittie

See the box at the top of your page where it displays &quot;Search this Forum&quot;? Just type in &quot;Convents Rome,&quot; without the quotation marks, then in the box to the right, scroll down and highlight Italy. Look on the left-hand side of your screen, where you will see <i>many</i> posts on this topic from the TravelTalk archives.

Many of us, myself included, have enjoyed stays in convents in Italy for the same reasons you're asking the question!

Thanks, Betsy but I did not find a lot of commentary on how quiet they were; I know how to search!

You don't - and shouldn't - book through them, but this Web site often mentions whether it is a quiet location or not.

http://www.klosterresor.nu/index.asp...&amp;sprak=eng

Here's my experience:

In Florence, I've stayed at Instituto Oblate dell'Assunzione twice. The first time my husband and I had the &quot;penthouse suite,&quot; which overlooked the garden, so there was little noise except the delightful music, until about 9 pm, from the theater on the other side of the garden. The second time, I was solo and was given a room facing Borgo Pinti. The noise of the Vespe echoed against the stone of the buildings and was not at all conducive to a good night's sleep, even with earplugs. I asked to be moved to a quieter room and was assigned a quiet room looking out into a courtyard.

In Rome, I stayed at Istituto Santa Giuliana, which is in a great location near Piazza Navona. The building is on a very busy, noisy street; however, with earplugs I was able to sleep well. This was in April when the weather was cool and the windows were closed. I think it would be difficult to sleep there if it were too hot to sleep with the windows open. Both convents were very clean.

All that being said, the key may be earplugs. They're the first things that get tossed into my luggage before any trip. Give them a try before you go.

Betsy has made a very good point: Many convents have courtyards; if your room faces on the courtyard, it will be very quiet. If your room in the same convent faces onto the street, it will not be quiet at all.

One example of such a convent I stayed in in Rome was the Suore di Lourdes on Via Sistina. If I had been in a room on the street, I probably would not have slept very well. I had a room on the courtyard and heard not a sound.

Another thing:

I don't know how familiar you are with Rome or Florence (Tuscany is the region; if the convent is in the country, it is likely to be quiet but probably with only difficult access to a town or city), but both cities are very old, with very narrow streets. Italians generally like to stay up fairly late in the evenings. In a narrow street with stone buildings on either side, two or three people walking home from dinner may be quite audible if your room faces the street. If a car or, worse, a scooter drives along the same street, it will be quite audible.

If quiet is one of your prime considerations, you will likely have to think of something outside the historical center of either city. There is a hotel on the way to Fiesole above Florence, the Bencista, which is in a large garden off the road and overlooks the city. It is very quiet. There are two dogs, though, as I recall; something may or may not cause them to bark during the night.

Perhaps you should not be thinking of Italian cities at all...

Agree - cities are inherently noisy - and old cities with narrow streets and stone buildings magnify the noise. There are few quiet places in the center of major cities - unless you stay on a high floor of a highrise with excellent soundproofing. Or can guarantee a room on an inside courtyard - but still it won;t be totally quiet.

If any city noises bother you - you might consider ear plugs - or staying in a quiet country inn.