Rome, Italy Rentals

I use VRBO and I would narrow my search to Prati, the area near the Vatican. Prati is very residential yet close enough to walk to many sites and well-connected via Metro, Tram, and bus to the rest of Roma.

Be very careful with VRBO - I had a bad experience and learned that they do not vet all of their properties. My problem was in France - the property did not exist.... and they wanted payment in full. Fortunately I was able to get money back - with a lot of help from Fidelity.

Frances, I appreciate the note of caution, but I have rented DOZENS of apartments through VRBO, Homelidays, and Booking.com. While every apartment I have chosen has not been perfect, they have all been fine and never have I been left hanging or had a financial problem with one. It is best to rent one that has several reviews -- especially recent reviews -- so as to spot possible problems. One has to do one's own due diligence to the degree possible, but these sites are, in my experience, reputable.

And if you are not after an apartment, I still recommend Prati for a B&B or small hotel.

maybe you can try on airbnb??

We have done rentals twice, a VRBO apartment in Florence and a 'residenza' through a hotel in Rome. Both worked out just fine, but this was after several EMails back and forth. Always a good thing to develop a line of communication, and you can tell from that quite a bit. Also, as Laurel says reviews are a good thing too, and you can query a previous renter.

We stayed a week in a lovely 2 bedroom, two bath apartment in Trastevere, sharing it with another couple. The bedrooms are on separate floors, each with its own bathroom, so there was ample privacy for all. The apartment was right on a small piazza (Piazza di San Giovanni della Malva) and had two rooftop terraces overlooking the piazza. The table up there was where we dined when we cooked for ourselves.

The apartment has its own website, it is also listed with various booking services of younprefer that route.

http://www.malvapalace.com/#palace

There are some aspects which might be negatives for some people, but did not bother us. The apartment is spread over three levels ( not counting the roof terrace) so there are lots of stairs. The kitchenette on the first floor is very small, and has a very small table for dining ( we preferred the roof terrace anyway).

The second floor bedroom is huge and doubles as living space. The third floor bedroom is smaller, but provides access to the roof terrace. In other words, the bedrooms are not equal in size, and each one is used in part as shared space. We were OK with having our bedroom also be the living room; there is a separate sitting area with TV and sofa. But not everyone might like this.