Long story short, we ended up going to Rome instead of Chicago for Spring Break because it was only…read more$75 more per person to go there instead. Anyway, our flight was the easy part. The hard part was finding a place to stay. I was looking for a place that had most, if not all, the following attributes: 1. Affordable 2. Centrally-located to most of our planned visits 3. Big enough for a family of 4 4. Clean 5. Rated highly with previous visitors Luckily, Ripetta 25 met ALL of those requirements and more! First, let's start off with the location. The "hotel" is located within a block or two of Piazza del Popolo. Next, all of the big attractions such as The Vatican, The Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navone, and Spanish Steps are all no more than a 20 to 25-minute walk. If you choose, you can also take the Metro to these locations (minus Piazza Navone). The entrance to the underground metro is right on the other side of Piazza del Popolo. There are many restaurants and stores on the next street over, but Ripetta is quiet. With that being said, there are a few good restaurants on Ripetta to go to, as well. Next, finding a place big enough for a family of 4, and being affordable, was a challenge. I literally spent 3-hour a day, 6-days a week, for 2 weeks, looking for this. There are many places around town that are big and clean enough, but would cost me between $400-$600 a night, if not more! For all the data you can find on the internet, why can't they see that I don't make 6 gajilion dollars a year! I can't afford that! But, what I could afford is $180 a night for their biggest room (plus taxes and a charge for extra people, of course). Mind you, this is in April. The room might be a little more during peak periods. Lastly, this place was highly-rated by MANY people. I looked on Trip Advisor, Hotels.com, and Booking.com (no reviews on Yelp yet). The average on all 3 sites was extremely high and people had many great things to say. They didn't let me down. Now, for some post-vacation notes. - Service. It's going to be hard to find better service than this. Paolo sent me an email a day or two after booking, welcoming me and asked me if I needed help with anything, including buying tour tickets and travel recommendations to the hotel. Because we were a family of 4 coming in around 10pm, I asked him to book our shuttle from the airport. He happily booked the service for me and all I had to do was pay cash (in Euros) to the driver. Easy peasy. Since this was my first time in Rome, I had other questions, and he answered ALL of them the following day. Rebecca helped us with our late check-in and she was equally as nice. She showed us everything we needed to know in the room. - Room perks. Aside from having a kitchen, the room also had a small refrigerator with various drinks and snacks (milk, juice, yogurt, butter). It also came stocked with various breakfast and snack items like cereal, bread, and cookies (unfortunately, for me, no candy). Unlike the US, breakfast is a light affair here, which worked out because we slept until 10 or 11. There is also an expresso maker (like a Keurig) with 4 pods of caffeinated and 4 pods of decaf. - While we were only 4 people, the room could actually fit 6. There was a king-size bed, a queen-size sofa bed, and a bunk bed. We all slept comfortably. The beds were great and it was very quiet. The room also has 2 bathrooms (1 has a tub and 1 has a shower). - They clean your room daily, including restocking the snacks/breakfast items. - Free Wifi. And it was fairly fast. Now, for a few "cons," if you can call them that. - Elevator is small, so if you have a lot of bags, you might have to make a few trips. Our room was on the first floor, though. After you check in and get your bags in the room, you will most likely just take the stairs, which are actually just wrapped around the elevator. - The AC/Heaters were a little slow, but did what they needed to do. There's 1 in the master bedroom and 1 in the living room. - English TV channels were limited to mostly news stations. Nothing for kids. But hey, you didn't go to Rome to watch TV. To say that I had a good stay at Ripetta 25 would be an understatement. It was extremely affordable and what I got for the price was amazing! I've already recommended this place to 2 other people and they are very interested.

This is an adorable little shop with top-end kitchen and home supplies. It's a great stop if you…read moreare looking for some nice souvenirs to take home from Italy. I found some gorgeous Italian made espresso spoons for about 3 Euros each. There are all sorts of espresso cups, coffee accessories, kitchen gadgets, soaps, linens and more. Lots of pretty Italian things. Definitely worth a look if you are a kitchen person. The employees were very friendly as well.