I'm trying to help someone find a hotel in Rome that is very quiet. They are light sleepers and do not want to be in an area that is likely to be crowded or noisy either in the evenings or the early morning.

They are looking at a couple of hotels, one north of Villa Borghese, the Duke Hotel and the other on the Aventine, Sant' Anselmo hotel.

One concern that has been raised is church bells ringing during the night.

Can anyone who has stayed in one of these locations or hotels provide any insight that will help?

I haven't stayed at either of these hotels, but heard that the Sant' Anselmo is very nice.

2 of my favorites are right near the Spanish steps: The Manfredi is on Via Margutta, just below the steps on an interesting street. It is soundproofed and very quiet.
http://www.hotelmanfredi.it/

The Hotel Gregoriana is on via Gregoriana, It's on a narrow side street that leads to the top of the steps, and we love it because it is a quiet street and still as centro as you can get.
http://www.hotelgregoriana.it

We have stayed here in the Prati district:

Hotel Farnese
www.hotelfarnese.com
Via Alessandro Farnese, 30
00192 Roma (RM), Italy
+39 06 321 2553

Even though it is on the corner of a main street we found it to be very quiet. We like the Prati area quite a bit so this hotel is ideal for us. For the walker it is very good and for those that prefer not to walk far to a destination, there is the subway stop only a few minutes from the hotel. Google the address to get a good idea of the location.

Peter

Sticking with the Borghese area, we stayed at the Empire Palace Hotel (Via Aureliana #39), a few blocks NE of Piazza Barberini, and found it to be quiet, but the room was a little "cozy." About half the rooms face an interior courtyard and the area is primarily residential so the noise in minimal.

Thanks for the suggestions.

They've also asked me about the San Pio and Cap' d'Africa hotels. There are reviews for them over on the main site but most are several years old. Any recent experiences with these hotel?

I am a light sleeper too and have found the only real solution is to sleep with earplugs. I don't use them at home but I use them every time I sleep away from home. You just never know what you didn't anticipate, waking you up.

I'm a fairly heavy sleeper, but I don't remember hearing church bells at night. Am I cuckoo?

April, I don't recall ever hearing church bells at night. They are only a pleasant (to me) way to be woken in the morning. And then to roll over and fall back asleep, if you wish.

We stayed at a fine little place in Trastevere, in an extremely noisy neighborhood - and it was blissfully very quiet in our room. This is because of the AC and the insulation of the room. If you have to stay in a place without AC, and must open the windows (always my preference- I love fresh air) then it can be noisy in even quiet locations. There are church bells of course, but also those noisy motor scooters, and deliveries and trucks in the early morning. SO, will the trip be during the warm summer months? AC and insulation can be a factor. I imagine most have AC.
If the trip is in the cooler months - I'm not sure how you determine the quietness of the insulation when shopping for a room.
You can also choose room location to your advantage. The room overlooking the street will most likely be noisier than one with a "view" of a quiet alley, wall, or courtyard. And I think that higher floors might be quieter.
My husband and I laugh about a couple of very cheap hotels we stayed in when much younger - they had no AC, and in extreme heat, we just opened up the windows AND the door to our room to get some cross ventilation. We didn't have much to steal anyway!
Linda

The Aldrovandi Palace is a beautiful hotel and VERY quiet.

If you can give some other factors that you might be looking into, I can then give some more suggestions.

Unfortunately I have never been to the Duke, but I know it is not far from the Aldrovandi Palace and the neighborhood is quiet. Just don't know about the hotel.

Also, never been to the Sant' Anselmo. It is definitely in a quiet neighborhood. However, there are a few churches close by and i don't know about their bell towers during the night. But you will be staying a just a couple of blocks from Sophia Lorens house!!!

Thanks again, everyone.

SL Jones, could you tell us the name of the hotel in Trastevere?

Tony, all they've said is that quiet, air conditioning and a king sized bed are important to them and that they'd like to find this as close to the historic area as possible.

Well then, I would rule out the Duke and the Aldrovandi. They are not so close to the historic center.

Maybe Hotel 47? It is on a busier street Via Teatro d. Marcello. But it is a newer hotel, so i would assume that is well soundproofed. I have had clients stay there but none ever mentioned quiet or noisy.

How about Hotel Ponte Sisto? Quiet street. Gets a lot of pedestrian traffic though. New, should be soundproofed. Contact Red Red Wine (AKA: Chandi Wyant), as she just stayed at this hotel earlier this summer. I am sure that she can tell you how it is.

The nh Vittorio Veneto is on a busy street but it is a new hotel and very quiet inside both the lobby and the rooms. It is under a minute walk to the the Via Veneto!

The Hotel Campo de Fiori, has recently gone through a major overhaul. All rooms have been enlarged (they cut the number of rooms almost in half), are soundproofed, and have air conditioning.

Also try the Palazzetto next to the Spanish Steps. I know the area could not be noisier, but I am pretty sure the rooms are all sound-proofed (you will have to double check on that), have large beds, and air-conditioning. You can't beat a view of the Steps, plus being located in the same building as the International Wine Academy of Rome!!!

Ah, the older couple on Fodor's Forum who have been asking about this a few times?

A lot of hotels, in a good location in the center, have rooms facing inner courtyards which will cut down on outside noise.
Many have double paned windows.

Being away from the center doesn't guarantee quiet either, so they may as well pick a location they like and start searching within that area.

The area around the Borghese can get very congested, with lots of traffic noises, not to mention needing a cab to get to the center.
The Aventine, on the other hand, is a lot quieter (and very pretty IMO) but again, one needs a cab to get into the center.

I'm a very light sleeper and use ear plugs if I find I am awoken by street noise, but I have never heard church bells at night.

Funny, church bells are one of the things I miss when returning home!

Deb, I'm pretty sure that this must be about that same couple on Fodor's and TripAdvisor that has been searching for a hotel for several months now. While reading over this thread, I wondered why they didn't post themselves, although it's good of ellens to help them out. But several important details that they have posted on the other boards should be known here. Yes, they want quiet and central. They don't want to spend more than $300 per night, the A/C must be "strong," and working, the bed must be a real king, not two twins pushed together, the room must be quiet with no external noise (scooters, traffic, bells) and no internal noise (elevator, neighbors).

In answer to the question about the small quiet hotel in Trastevere - It's Villa della Fonte, about a half block down a side street from the busy Santa Maria de Trastevere church piazza. http://www.villafonte.com/
I wrote a review for SlowTrav and there are glowing reviews on Trip Advisor. No king sized beds, no elevator...but a great little place, down scale but clean, comfortable, roomy enough....and quiet.
There. I've done well for this hotel here, and I'm glad to as they were very helpful to me.
Linda

Thanks for the details Linda.

Ellen, I think that your friends will NOT get a king-size bed, that is a true American one-piece king-size, unless they stay at an American style hotel like the Marriott.

Thanks everyone.

It's a little difficult trying to be an intermediary for someone. They have tried to join Slowtrav so they can post for themselves, but have not been able to make it work. They have been reading your responses, however, and have responded:

I've just been over on slowtalk again and it's frustrating for me to read some of the responses to your so-kind effort to try to help me. The thing that's most especially frustrating is to hear someone express annoyance (I guess I don't blame them, since they don't know the circumstances) with my not posting my queries myself. I have REPEATEDLY tried to become a member on that board. I carefully follow every step of the instructions and my efforts always fail. (I have never had trouble joining any other web group.) I just tried once more this morning-- to no avail. And, frustratingly, there seems to be no telephone contact who might be able to walk me through this thing. In any case, I hope that the posters on that board understand that it's not any sort of laziness on my part that keeps me from posting there. Au contraire.

It's also a mistake to say that I insist on meeting all of our wishes. I have repeatedly said that I realize that we'll have to give up the idea of more central location, since the quiet factor is so important to us. And it's incorrect that I set the ceiling at $300. I've said that's what I'd like to keep it at, but would go higher if necessary. Likewise, it's nonsense to pretend that I'm expecting NO outside or inside noise. The point is that I'd like to minimize that to whatever degree possible. There seem to be a number of people who truly desire to be of help.

Again, thanks for your efforts on my behalf.

Ellen, I think what people here might be reacting to is the rather extensive questioning that's been going on on Fodor's and (apparently) Trip Advisor. As earlier posters have mentioned, this has been going on for a while. Each response brings another set of questions from the OP.

Marian says it quite nicely; this question has been ongoing for awhile on several forums, including CruiseCritic if I have been reading it correctly, and there has been a lot of very useful, very helpful advice given IMHO. Bottom line is that what suits one person may not suit another and beyond the information being given, what else can we say? This is where good faith plays a part. I truly hope the right hotel is found.

Whoa, "incorrect", "mistake", "nonsense", welcome to ST, whenever you join !

Back to the issue at hand --- a quiet hotel in Rome. I can second the suggestion of the Hotel Manfredi. It is a three-minute walk from the Piazza di Spagna, on the via Margutta, a very quiet side street. Ask for an interior room and it may be even quieter.

Ellen, I will be happy to walk your friends through the joining process. You can pass on to them my email address (see my Profile) and they can get in touch with me, I will give them my telephone number, and we will arrange a suitable time to get them through.

This being said, the registration guide is here. Did they follow it?

Aventino is indeed a good choice if they look a quiet one. Otherwise I would suggest Flaminio district between Piazza del Popolo and the Auditorium

Take a look at the Raphael Hotel near the Piazza Navona...quiet area and king beds...very nice.

http://www.raphaelhotel.com/en...el-Hotel-in-rome.htm

A very lovely hotel in a relatively quiet part of town is the Hotel Locarno around the corner from the Piazza del Poppolo....we stay there every time we're in Rome and have had NO issues with church bells, street noise or anything else. It's well located, charming and the price seems to fit......

We stayed at Visconti Palace. QUiet, was recently renovated, modern decor. About a mile east of the Vatican. A very easy walk.

Villa della Fonte....very quiet street yet in Trastevere.

Ciao

In the Fall of 2006, we had wonderful accomodations at the Hotel Nazionale on the Piazza Montecitorio next to the Italian Parliament. Our windows had a gorgeous view of the terra cotta roofs leading to the dome of the basilica - 15 minutes walk away.

We heard no church bells at night and faces away from the piazza, a request I'm sure you can make.

quote:

Originally posted by Martha:
Hotel Nazionale on the Piazza Montecitorio next to the Italian Parliament. Our windows had a gorgeous view of the terra cotta roofs..... , a request I'm sure you can make.

I made this suggestion on Fodors for exactly the same reason. We had room 415, same view you had, very quiet, large room, huge bathroom and great staff.
We stayed there 4 times and I loved it.

It's not in our budget anymore but fortunately for us we have discovered the pleasures of less expensive apartments stays.