Great hotels in Rome?

Welcome to the forum

Define “close to the action”
Do you mean close/walking distance to major sights? Or close to “nightlife”

We’ve always stayed near the Pantheon. You are walking distance to most every sight from there and plenty of cafes, etc. (Next trip in May we will stay in Trastevere for a change of pace)
Others prefer close to train station, for transportation needs
Others prefer the Trastevere neighborhood across the river for a more local feel

Orvieto or Ostia Antica are the most recommended doable day trips from Rome
Tivoli would be another

If you share a bit more about yourself, your travel party and your travel needs/ experience you’ll get more specific advice

The title of your post could be interpreted to mean you're looking for the very top luxury hotels ("great" as in superior). Like any big city, Rome has hundreds if not thousands of hotels and B&B establishments. Which ones are best for you will depend on your budget, any special needs (e.g., stairs or not, air conditioning or not, bathtub or just shower stall), what your idea of "quaint" is, and what you mean by "close to the action." If you'd like to fill in some of these unknowns, we'll be better able to advise you.

The problem with your question is that Rome is a lot closer to a New York City than a quaint small town somewhere. Do you want to stay in Brooklyn or Manhattan or ???? Most of the center core of the Rome is walkable but it is huge. We prefer the Termini area because of the convenience to transit. If you are spending some time in Rome you need to use the bus or tram system to get around. Just more convenient. We use Hotel Sonya across from the Opera House and Hotel Aberdeen a little further from Termini. Either is a solid, three star hotel and for us convenient most things. About an hour walk to the Vatican. Both hotels have nice restaurants near them. As to quaint shopping areas, I have no idea what you want.

OK- you edited and no longer want to be "close to the action" as your original post stated.

a good place to start getting a feel for what sort of accommodations are available is booking.com
set your filters, explore the listings, peruse the map/locations, read reviews

assume this is your first trip to Rome?

"quaint shopping/dining area" could be almost any Rome neighborhood- Camp de'Fiori, Piazza Navonna, Trastevere--all walkable
Use google maps and explore

day trips have been suggested- but what are YOUR interests?

I have stayed at The Lancelot Hotel 4 times and with any luck, again this April / 22. The owners are relatives of a fellow SFU Vancouver BC graduate of mine. It’s a boutique hotel 10 min from the Colosseum, almost across the street from Church of San Clemente, and close to the Metro and tram. Here is their website: https://www.lancelothotel.com/
I highly recommend it. You get buffet bkfst with the cost of the room. They also serve dinners if you want the ‘full board option’. Lots of eating options in the area too. Rome, itself, is very walkable, I generally get a good day’s walk in, going from site to site and finding new sites along the way. The hotel is listed in Rick Steves’ 2020 Rome guide.

"Do you want to stay in Brooklyn or Manhattan or ????"
Epidit: A drop off-topic BUT, as a residential Brooklyn real estate broker for over 24 years, you have an old-fashioned view of the cost of Brooklyn! Much of it is top dollar these days!

My favorite hotel in Rome is Locanda Navona. It,s about 200 meters west of the Piazza Navona and close to nearly everything. It occupies one floor of a 500+ year old building and they only have 5 or 6 rooms. It is lovely and the staff is always great. As far as day trips go I've done Florence, Naples and Venice by train and they are all quite doable, although Venice is a bit far. I have also done Venice via easyJet. We use suntransfers.com to pick us up from our hotel and take us to FCO (or Termini) for the earliest departure to VCE (or wherever we are going).

Enjoy!

I second the Lancelot. I stayed there in September and loved it. Because of COVID, they were not doing the buffet breakfast. You placed your order the night before, indicating what time you would like breakfast. Then it was either delivered to your room or brought to you in their dining area. The Colosseum is less than a 10-minute walk, so we used that metro stop to get everywhere else. There are a lot of great restaurants within walking distance of the hotel.

I just got back yesterday from a short break in Rome. We stayed at Navona Queen Rooftop. It’s near Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Castel Sant’Angelo and surrounded by restaurants and shops. It has 11 rooms, each with a modern private bath. It’s on the top floor of a huge old building with a sweeping marble staircase (and small elevator.) The included breakfasts are large and delicious. But the knockout feature is the rooftop. Up one more flight of stairs, you get to an entire huge rooftop with comfy chairs, a bar for aperitivi (in the summers) and sweeping views, including of St. Peter’s dome. The family that owns it lives on the other side of the floor and they were so kind and friendly the whole time we were there. They also accept guests’ dogs, which was important to us. (And brought her a dog biscuit every morning at breakfast.) The bathrooms are very modern but the bedrooms are still sporting their 80s wallpaper. Everything was clean and well-maintained though. Beds were very comfortable.

It’s on the Corso Vittorio Emmanuelle II, so a main drag, but we did not hear any noise (except the Santa motorcycle parade on Christmas Eve morning). There are lots of buses that run on that street, making transit to other parts of the city easy, but we mostly just tucked into the alleys behind the hotel building to wander around enjoying the Christmas lights and visiting a near-empty Piazza Navona.

This will likely be our go-to place for Rome visits as it was so nice and well located.

If you like cathedrals, the one at Orvieto is a Wow.

I stayed at Hotel Aberdeen in October (and am returning in July 2022), and it was wonderful. It's a hike almost anyplace, but as noted elsewhere here, it is only two blocks from Metro and close to Termini. Also did a day trip to Tivoli through Enjoy Rome, and thought it was good value and very enjoyable; included guided tours of Hadrian's Villa and the Borgia palazzo Villa d'Este with optional lunch between sites.

We stayed at B&B Buonanotte Garibaldi, a 3 room boutique Hotel in the Trastevere area. The courtyard is one of the most beautiful places especially during sunny days and the rooms were peaceful, spacious, and spotless. Stay there if you want a calm, one-of-a-kind experience

On our last trip there we stayed at Hotel Smeraldo by Campo de’ Fiori. We liked the location. If you’re looking for a higher end hotel, then Grand Hotel de la Minerve by the Pantheon should work. Most of the main sights are within walking distance and there are plenty of restaurants around.