We will be travelling to Rome in May 2007. Has anyone stayed at either Villa Rosa or Sant'Anna Albergo Giusti convents. We are aware of the curfew etc. Any comments would be appreciated

Stayed at Villa Rosa a few times. Run by Dominican Sisters from US, hence English spoken. No problem with curfew as you take a key on the way out. Quiet ocation, street across from circus max. accessible by metro circus max or bus 175.

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My husband and I stayed at Sant'Anna Albergo Giusti over Easter 2007 for a week. We found the convent to extremely clean, the sisters and staff accommodating, and the location very near the Vittorio Emanuele stop on the Metro. It is within walking distance of the Colosseum, Forum, San Giovanni Laterno, and Santa Maria Maggiore. Termini, the main train station, is about 5 blocks away.

The curfew is midnight, but can be extended for special reasons if you request. A breakfast of juice, coffee, tea, fruit, cereal, yogurt, bread, and packaged pastries is provided. Dinner is available for about 13 euros per night.

There are several local tratorrias, bars, and a bakery/deli nearby and a good supermercato is across the street.

The neighborhood is not plush or particularly attractive. It’s similar to other neighborhoods near Termini, but is perfectly safe, even at night.

The rooms are spartan, like a dorm room, but are generous by European standards and include a nice private bath with plenty of hot water. Some rooms have a balcony. Our room faced an interior courtyard area and was very quiet. There is an elevator.

I have stayed in several convents throughout Italy and found this to be fairly typical of this type of accommodation.

I'm returning to Rome for Christmas 2007 and considered Albergo Giusti again, but settled on Istituto Santa Giuliana Falconeri because it is closer to the centro istorico and the Vatican, and we know the sisters there well from previous stays. For additional reviews, see tripadvisor.com.

Athena, I am delighted to hear you have stayed at the Istituto Santa Giuliana Falconeri. I have been trying to find a website or something on it...I couldn't find it on trip advisor either...maybe I didn't look in the right spot! Being so close to the Piazza Navona is it fairly noisy? Are the bus connections close...how's breakfast, etc.? Appreciate your time. Howdey

http://rome-hotels.tripadvisor.com/S...ome_Lazio.html

Thank you, Zerlina, I really appreciate your help. I'm just learning about all these sights. Actually, I'm getting addicted to all these travel sights!!

good info for another Rome trip in the future!

Julie

List of convents in Rome.
http://www.santasusanna.org/comingToRome/convents.html

List of hundreds of convents in Italy.
www.hospites.it

The rooms that face the street at Istituto Santa Giuliana Falconeri can be fairly noisy from bus and car traffic, particularly in warm weather when you leave your shutters open. Ask for a room in the back and Sr. Katherine, an American sister who is in charge, will try her best to accommodate you. The breakfast is very, very simple--fresh bread with jam and butter, pastries, coffee, and tea (the type of breakfast Italians are accustomed to).

Most rooms are large, as the building is a Renaissance palazzo converted into a convent. Most bathrooms are immediately outside the room, but there are plenty so they are rarely occupied and always immaculately clean. Many rooms have at least a sink and toilet.

Bus routes, including the infamous no.64 to the Vatican, are very close on Via Vittorio Emanuele and trams are at the nearby Largo Argentina. The convent is in walking distance of the Roman Forum, Colosseum, etc.

We have stayed there at least 4 or 5 times and found the nuns to be very hospitable and location hard to beat.

Athena, if I remember correctly, Falconieri has an early curfew-that's the problem with some of Rome's convents-the early 11pm curfew. That, and some of the convents do not have sisters who speak any English at all, so that could be a problem for some. Pj mentioned Villa Rosa-they are the exception there-I emailed one of the sisters there and they were quite accomodating, although I did not stay there.

Santa Giuliana Falconieri's curfew was never an early one, and there is now someone on duty all night, so the curfew has probably been abolished. Sister Kathryn of Santa Giuliana Falconieri is from Chicago; you can assume that she speaks English...

I stayed at Santa Giuliana two years ago. They had just started having a guard there. The curfew was still midnight, but you could be out later if you let them know. I knew I wouldn't be back in time after the Opera and didn't want to have to leave it early, so I just told them I would be late. It was no problem.

and yes, Sister Kathryn speaks perfect English.