Apparently Rome has many convents that rent rooms to tourists. Sounds like a unique experience. Besides, the idea of returning to my room after curfew & having the stern-looking Mother Superior standing at the front gate would invoke visions of my mischevious childhood.
Has anyone stayed at a convent that they would recommend?
Thank you.
We wanted to book a room in a convent in Rome a couple of years ago, but even though I was doing the research months ahead of time no rooms were available. So get moving on it as soon as possible and good luck. Oh, and not all of them have curfews.
We stayed at Suore Santa Elisabetta last September. It is walking distance from the Termini, close to St. Maria Magiore and a short walk to the Forum and surrounding sights. Their email is ist.it.s.elisabetta@libero.it. I found them in Rick's Italy 2007 book. There are many convents and monestaries listed on santasusanna.org and also other good travel info.
Santa Elisabetta's is run by Polish nuns but the front office was managed by an efficient, friendly, English speaking woman. They did have a curfew at 11pm, I think, but we were so tired from walking all over Rome all day that we were happy to be soaking in a hot bath by then. The room was comfortable and one of the largest we have stayed in on our travels to Italy. Pluses: great price, good though basic breakfast with excellent coffee, large private bath with a large clawfoot tub, comfortable bed, very clean, very good security, good location, quiet except for the sisters singing morning prayers at 5:30 or 6am [this was actually a bonus for me, a la "Sound of Music", and I fell right back to sleep thinking I had heard angels;) ]. Minuses: twin beds, short window of time for breakfast - if you want to sleep in you will miss it, but no problem if you want to get an early start, minimalist decor- it's a convent. We booked this rather late so there was only one room available, but I understand there are some rooms on the upper floors with great views and possibly a balcony. If you do a search on tripadvisor.com for them you will find more reviews and some photos. I think our stay with the sisters was an appropriate home base for our visit to Rome and the Vatican City.
CASA IL ROSARIO
Via S. Agata dei Goti,10 00184 Rome.
Tel. 06.679.2346; Fax: 06.6994.1106; E-mail: irodopre@tin.it
Located near the Quirinale Palace and Piazza Venezia. The rates are 50 Euro for a single room with bath; 40 Euro without bath; and 86 Euro for a double room; and 117 Euro for a room with three beds. Breakfast is included. They also have a single Handicapable room with access! No other meals are served and curfew is at 11:00 PM.
Kit, I have twice stayed here. Quiet, central, a kiss on the cheek at checkout!!! But as mentioned above, it is difficult to get a booking. Curfew is curfew - you will be exhausted from walking all day, and the sisters are up very early for prayers. Casa il Rosario has a top- floor terrace with great views, and a clothes line for your washing, as well as garden areas. Check out the location on googlemaps. I would recommend it. Restaurants, other 'food shops', chemist etc close by.
There is a convent near Campo Fiore called Santa Brigida. I think it is RS Guidebook. It is run by nuns from India and has a garden, includes breakfast, and evening meal can be arranged. We considered staying there but they are very slow to respond to emails and we had to book elsewhere.
We're staying at Albergo Giusti s.annagiusti@tiscali.it There are several good and very detailed reviews on Trip Advisor, and we're paying 90 euros/night for a room with a DOUBLE bed, which is hard to find at convent run hotels, a private bath, and no curfew according to my confirmation e-mail. I e-mailed about 10 different convents last month for a stay in early October and this place was the only positive reply. It's about a 10 minute walk from the Termini station.
I've found this site which might help. It's called Monastery Stays and they have access to places all over Italy. Have a look at www.monasterystays.com. From customer feedback (on the site) they seem Ok
Cast away your notion of Mother Superior waiting up for you. The convent I stayed at simply locked the huge iron gate at 9pm sharp and you were left with no options.
We did sneak a bottle of wine to our room- that might satisfy your need for "nun-sense" (bad pun-sorry).
One of our party had a flight delay and was going to arrive after 9pm. To make matters worse, the local taxis went on strike that day, so we had to go make the late airport run and stayed in a hotel- the convent would make no special arrangements for our late arriver nor those of us driving to the airport.
I don't remember the name of the convent- it's across the street from the large urban prison- we nearly had car towed the first day- watch out for curbs painted blue, really hard to see after dark and they will tow your car.
I am glad I have done this once but would not recommend to anyone.
PICCOLE SUORE DELLA SACRA FAMIGLIA. It is almost directly across the street from the Vatican Musuem entrance. Very quiet. Very clean. It has no curfew. It has a common kitchen you can eat in and prepare very simple foods. Nice outdoor seating too. Rooms are very simple. We had 4 single beds and a place to hang clothes. The ensuite bathroom was very clean. The waterflow from the shower was good, but it was so small you were guaranteed to have the shower curtain stick to you throughout the shower. Has AC, but they encourage you to open the windows. No english spoken, but the super high energy nuns have no problem getting across what they are trying to say. http://www.santasusanna.org/comingToRome/convents.html This is where we found it, but email them directly.
Out of curiosity, do convent stays come with any 'moral' strings attached? As in, would they object to renting a room (obviously with twin beds) to a father-daughter or mother-son pair?
Thank you, all, for the recommendations.
Kit
We stayed at
Minime Suore Del Sacro "Beata M. Margherita Caiani" Via Fabio Massimo, 26 00192, ROMA
Tel: 06 324.2853 or 06 324.2984 e-mail: madremargherita@minimesc.it
Our room had a full private bath as well as a private balcony (amazing)! Other than an English barrier, our experience was wonderful.
I booked the convent through monasterystays.com. I don't recommend using them to book, but take a look at the pictures of the place on the site. Also, I suggest booking via e-mail. Someone who speaks english sent us a confirmation e-mail.
Good luck!
My 10 year old granddaughter, a teenager, and several friends and I stayed at Beata M. Margherita Caiani. The room was huge as was the bathroom. We had a large balcony, tv, and phone. It even had an elevator which was great. The rooms have very high ceilings and are very, very clean. After staying in small hotel rooms throughout Europe, this was wonderful. Only one of the nuns spoke English but we did very well communicating. The building is in a great location, within walking distance to the metro, bus and to the Vatican and other sites. The metro is very easy to use in Rome as they only have metro A and metro B. Even though the city is large, it is pretty easy to get around. You feel very safe in this building as they have a security system. The nuns are very friendly and accomodating. They have a snack room but there is a great place across the street that has great food at a very reasonable price. Would highly recommend this facility. The nuns also make handcrafted goods if you would like to purchase anything. They do not promote the craft goods, they are only displayed in a case on one of the floors. They use funds to help support schools for poor children in approximately 6 different countries. The nun from Egypt speaks very good English and is very helpful in translating This was a great experience for all of us. I booked the rooms via email at madremargherita@minimesc.it but you may look at the rooms at monastary.com. The rooms are super clean and very large. The elevator was a real plus also. The curfew was no problem for us. As a matter of fact they accomodated us when we had to leave early to catch a flight back to the states. They are very strict about the curfew though and that is because they want everyone to be safe. Loved to sit at the restaurant across the street and just people watch.
Another zombie response, this one to a posting from two years ago.
Mr. Itchy,
Try monasterystays.com We used them in Oct '09 and were quite satisfied.
You know, the whole convent thing isn't as cool as you'd think. It's more like a no frills hotel with a curfew. Sometimes there was a nun at the desk, but after hours, it was just a male employee. Like another poster stated, the metal gate outside gets locked at curfew and you can't even try to sweet talk your way inside after curfew. In the room, my wife and I slept on twin beds separated by Italy's heaviest nightstand . Our stay was not a bad experience, but it was nothing special. We couldn't find a room for the night, and the nuns were our only option, so we took it.
Sine Mr. Itchy's post about convents was made over 21 months ago, I think it is safe to assume he no longer needs any advice on the subject. He has either been and returned or was only idly curious to start with. His itch has been scratched, so to speak.
