Trastevere Area
 

We are considering staying at Rome Reference Listing #371: Largo Anzani, Trastevere. The website said it is set in the core of Porta Portese market. Is this a convenient area to get to the Rome sites and close to many restaurant options in Trastevere? We are 2 couples in our mid-30's and will be staying 4 nights.

yes and yes

though not centrally located to most major sights no place in Rome can be in this city where sights are rather far removed. For the Vatican it is as well located as any - just hop on the train from Trastevere train staion to the St Peter's train station for example.

And yes a restaurant ghetto for Romans and tourists alike. i like Trastevere as being a more real base for Rome than say those in the historic Roman city center proper. More a real neighborhoods - lots of local restaurants, etc. Go for it i say.

I wouldn't stay that far out if it's your first trip to Rome.

The apartment you are looking at only has one bed and a sofa bed. Sofa beds usually aren't comfortable and I wouldn't want to be stuck on one for 4 nights. Additionally, the couple stuck with the sofa bed has no privacy. They don't give a floor plan so it's possible anyone getting up in the night will disturb the other couple. I would look for an apartment with two bedrooms with real beds. I would also want two bathrooms. Four people sharing a bathroom will mean a lot of waiting.

The other area of Trastevere we are looking at is north more in the area between Santa Maria and Ponte Sisto. Would this be more convenient to things?

Yes, you could just walk across the bride to the historic center. I would still look for two bedrooms with real beds. When are you going and what price range?

Not sure what you are planning to pay, but check out the WRH Trastevere. I stayed there in June for two nights; it is a cross between an apartment and a B&B. Very cool, modern, updated design, and about 4-5 rooms (booked separately, but sharing the kitcheonette area), with a central tiny kitchen + dining area and coffee, fresh fruit, treats, etc. for guests. Laptops with internet in the rooms. Very comfortable. Here's the venere listing:

http://www.venere.com/townhouse-suit...rh-trastevere/

We are going Oct. 12 - 16 and want to stay between 120 - 140 euros per night.

Our Apartment in Rome was through RealRome on Via della Lungaretta. It was just steps away from Piazza Santa Maria Trastevere. We paid about 95E per day back in 2004. It may not work for you because the only bed is up on a mezzanine, although the sofa may have been a sleeper-we did not notice. We enjoyed it; very atmospheric both inside and out. Kitchen quite modern, bathroom adequate (upstairs). Not much privacy though for 2 couples.
You asked about location; we found it very good for us because we like to see lots of different back streets on the way to the more famous places. We had plenty of opportunity to do that but you had better like walking! The buses are great as is the little one that circles around and around the Trastevere area and on up to the Giardino which has fabulous views! We enjoyed crossing the several different bridges from Trastevere to get to various points in Rome, and they each had a different view. We caught buses right near us at the river when we were going quite a distance and only wanted to walk one way. There is a great morning market, daily,in the Piazza S.Cosimato about 5 min.from our apt. I am sure you will enjoy the area and will feel almost like a "local"!

Thank you for all your help. We ended up finding a place in Campo dei Fiori that looks like will be fairly close to both Trastevere and the sites more in the city.

I'm glad you found a place in Campo. For future reference though, Porta Portese is not far out at ALL and is only like 10 minutes from the Ponte Sisto area. I guess people really are that afraid to use their legs. You can easily get there from Campo for the Sunday morning flea market :-) And there's a very convenient tram (#8) too.

I think you will be happy with the Campo de'Fiori location. Our family likes that part of the city and the nearby ghetto neighborhood because they are convenient to Trastevere as well as to other sites in the central historic area.
A nice walk in the evening would take you through the ghetto and over the Isola Tiberina into Trastevere. It is mostly pedestrian streets, quiet and atmospheric. The major monuments in the ghetto are illuminated at night

We stayed at the Hotel San Francesco in Trastevere on our first trip to Rome and we loved both the hotel and the neighbourhood. It was a short tram ride (about 4 stops) to the historic centre of Rome and we often chose to walk it. If we stayed out late we took the tram or a cab home. It's very near Santa Marie. We loved being in what felt like a 'real' Roman neighbourhood.