Which neighborhood in Rome to stay?

My favorite in the city center is Trastevere. Lots of restaurants and cafes.
Pantheon/Navona is also nice, but more expensive because it's where millions of tourists are. Same with Spagna (although some people advertise their apartment as being in Piazza di Spagna, but actually it's closer to Porta Pia.

I know Porta Pia is far from Spagna. But some people swindle tourists advertising their apartments as if they are near Piazza di Spagna, but actually they are all the way up there on the viale del muro torto

I don't think of Pantheon, Spanish steps, or the Coliseum as being "neighborhood." They are just heavy tourist sights and an apartment in any of those areas would be noisy and not very attractive - IMO! And Spanish steps is the most overrated site because it is just an old staircase which attracts a lot of tourists. So if that is my choices I would select none.

My family is finishing up our first trip to Italy tomorrow. We spent a week in Rome and rented an apartment near the Pantheon. We found the location to be perfect and walked almost everywhere. The Vatican, the Colosseum, Trastevere, Piazza Navona, and Villa Borghese gardens were all within a 15-25 min walk from our apartment. If you're not interested in that much walking, the area was also filled with bus lines and taxi stands. We found lots of great places to eat and a grocery store less than 5 minutes away. I highly recommend the neighborhood surrounding the Pantheon.

Campo Fiori neighborhood is well located, many narrow windy, pedestrian only streets. Centrally located and walkable to both Vatican (15-20 minutes easy walk) and the same to Colosseum. Also, there is a major bus stop (Largo Argentina) in the center of the area. The area is flat, very walkable, very safe. This area borders the Navona/Patheon area. I agree with the other poster's comment about the Spanish Steps and I found the Coloseum area to have too much traffic for my taste--but to each his/her own.

I will second campo dei Fiori and Largo Argentina area. Very close to Pantheon - about a 3 minute walk. I would try to stay a couple of streets away from the Campo itself because of night time noise rather than on or next to Campo dei Fiori. We stayed next to Largo Argentina and found it to be an excellent location for site seeing.

And I'll throw in a vote for the Prati: quiet and off the tourist track.

Kathy beat me to it: Prati is the place. Well connected by tram, Metro and bus, you can also walk to Piazza Navona in 15-20 minutes from much of the area.

A vote for Trastevere. Very old, charming neighborhood, there are no tall buildings, an easy walk "home" over the river when you are done exploring the tourist sites, many good places to eat.

We've stayed all over the place in Rome and really enjoyed Trastevere (twice), but it's becoming more and more touristy and losing some of its charm for that reason. That said, I would not recommend Trastevere for most first-timers to Rome - instead, stay closer to the main sites you'll be visiting. For that reason I usually recommend the triangle generally formed by CDF/Navona/Pantheon. (Personally, I find Prati to be boooooring, though I don't doubt it would be a great place to grow up.)

On our next trip to Rome we'll be staying in Monti and Testaccio.

HI Diana,
On our first trip to Rome (2011) we were lucky enough to stay in a great apartment overlooking the Campo dei Fiori! My husband and I and our 3 grown sons had an amazing time there! Fiora, our host, was terrific! We felt like locals living there. We are going back in October and were sad to find out it was booked already. We are going to rent another place apartment from Fiora off Piazza Navona. We can't wait!
We loved the Campo, Piazza Navona and Trastervere neighborhoods!!!
Both are listed on VRBO. (Campo: www.vrbo.com/336305) and www.vrbo.com/194513(Piazza Navona)
Good luck!!
Nancy

Prati boring? No way! While the area around our hotel was quiet at night, Via Cola di Rienzo had a lot of action during the day, we were just hop-skip from Piazza del Popolo and Villa Borghese, and got to cross beautiful Ponte Sant'Angelo at least once a day! :O)

Prati - hotels are less expensive, Great proximity to Vatican and Navonna, and a real Rome, not a touristy one

Lots of very different recommendations. Proof that there's no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to travel.

Happy travels.