I see Ken Lansing's post about staying at a monastery, Casa Santo Nome di Gesu in Florence. How would you contact such a place?

Go to www.santasusanna.org and the "quick links" will lead you to convents and monasteries, one of which is the one you're interested in.

For information on ANY hotel (or anything else for that matter), start with a search on google.com "Casa Santa Nome di Gesu florence" got me numerous "hits", including this one, which provides its phone number and an e-mail address:

http://www.santasusanna.org/comingToRome/convents.html

"CASA SANTA NOME DI GESU (Piazza del Carmine 21, 50124 Firenze, Tel: 055.213856, Fax: 055.281835, e-mail: [email protected] ) Across the Arno near the beautiful church of Santa Maria Del Carmine where the famous Massacio frescoes are found. The rooms are quite nice with large shuttered windows, however there are no private baths. There is a library, chapel and TV room. Breakfast is included and prices are 65.000 ? 75.000 Lire for a single, 55.000 ? 65.000 per person for a double or triple. The sisters also offer lunch for an additional 20.000 Lire. They also take most credit cards, something few convents do! Take Bus D from the station and get off at Borgo S. Frediano. The sisters speak English, French, German and Spanish!"

Funny how you run into people day in and day out who have never heard of google.com....I sat next to a couple last nite who thought I was being "cutesy" when I told them to google it(what they were looking for on the internet).When I explained it,it was like they had had a visionary experience.

For anyone else who is reading this, that santasusanna website is a veritable treasure trove of Italian information on much more than convents. Try it!

ttt