Disclosure time (& even my husband doesn’t know this).
When looking online for a flat to rent for our stay in Rome earlier this month, I was looking for places which seemed well located for running. I’m a brand new, totally enthusiastic runner, and this “choosing a location so that I can go for a run” malarkey is also brand new.
So, looking at the map of Rome, and remembering bits and pieces of the city’s geography from my last visit there some 30 years ago, I thought, why not something along the river? It’ll be nice to run alongside a river in a big city, I thought.
Panorama Ripetta looked perfect.
On the river, & from the map it looked apparently quite close to the Castel Sant’Angelo, the Vatican, the Spanish Steps. A little balcony on which to have morning coffee/evening drinks.
Perfect.
What I hadn’t quite realised that Panorama Ripetta is so amazingly close to all these iconic locations and more. Looking at a map, I’d thought we would have longish walks to reach all these places, but instead it was literally a matter of minutes to reach so many of Rome’s major sights. Piazza Del Popolo, the Spanish Steps, the Borghese Gardens, the Vatican – all an easy-peesy stroll from our lovely apartment.
So, on location grounds alone Panorama Ripetta wins hands down.
Absolutely brilliant location.
The flat was equally lovely & spotlessly clean. Decent sized bedroom with hanging space, hangars, extra blankets; bathroom, large living room, with the kitchenette tucked away behind doors.
Panorama Ripetta is in a gorgeous old building just oozing charm and dignity, and with its high ceilings and quiet elegance, it was a delight.
The address is Piazza del Porto di Ripetta.
This is the building, with our very own slightly crumbly fountain.
There is a lift, and our 1 bedroom apartment looked out over the river. This was our view:
There is traffic along the Lungotevere, but the flat has double glazing which cuts out the noise.
The tiny balcony was my favourite perch, to have my morning coffee
my evening glass of vino
and just to sit and watch the world go by:
There are plenty of shops and restaurants within a couple of minutes walk, and we shopped most days at the great little Carrefour just round the back of the building, which is amazingly well-stocked and open every day till late.
The kitchenette (below) folds away behind those doors. There are 2 electric hobs, toaster, dishwasher, Nespresso machine – when we were checking in (late), it was discovered that there were no Nespresso capsules for the next morning (oh disaster!) but they were delivered promptly next morning, which was a sweet touch.
The other folding doors conceal a washing machine, and all the cutlery and crockery. The crockery was of good quality but there was literally just enough stuff. Meant we had to run the dishwasher after virtually every meal (& we ended up buying our own capsules as the few supplied ran out). Similarly, the cooking pots and pans were fine, but j-u-s-t enough.
Nicely decorated and no visible signs of wear and tear.
TV, but we didn’t actually use it at all.
Bathroom was small but had everything including a heated towel rail, a hairdryer, and a first aid box which I thought was a nice touch.
Fire extinguisher, too.
We used the A/C a couple of nights to sleep, and it worked perfectly.
Free wifi.
We arrived late, and so had to pay Euro 25 as a check in fee, which was explained to us in advance. A lady was waiting for us at the bottom of the building, checked us in, explained things – adequate English. Since I speak no Italian, am in no position really, to pass judgement, am I?
There was also a Euro 30 end-of-stay cleaning fee, which I’m not sure I remembered seeing online, but there you go.
We booked online, through Expedia, and all emails were handled very promptly and efficiently, including queries about taxis etc.
Recommended.
Would I stay there again? Oh, absolutely.
We paid our own way, and no-one knew/knows that I blog or write reviews.
Oh, yes – the running was GREAT. Along the river to the Vatican City every day – too much fun.
