In general, we liked our stay at La Piccola Maison. The neighborhood is great. It is a very safe and friendly area, especially compared to a hotel we stayed in later in our visit which was nearer to the Termini station. The Barberini area is simply wonderful! We ended up with an apartment owned by the owner's friend that was located a few floors down because our room was having a water problem (which I see, from previous reviews, has been going on for quite some time). The apartment was roomy, although we had no access to the kitchen, so I don't know why it was called an apartment. The cleanliness of the shower was a bit lacking and the furnishing a bit spare (left-over furniture that looked a bit like that found in a college apartment). The hotel's owner was kind and helpful, but we only ever saw her once as she is only there from 10 - 2 daily. We much preferred our second hotel in Florence where the staff was present 24-hours a day to answer our endless questions (although one of us is fluent in Italian, it is always nice to have help in finding mailboxes, ATMs, restaurants, tickets, bus stops, etc.). Now that we are more familiar with the city, we might stay here again, but for a first-timer, I would suggest something more traditional in the same area. We also missed not having a computer available to the guests.

Great value and location(virtually at the top of the metro steps). It was our 1st time in Rome so getting orientation help was a problem as the place is small (5 rooms), so the staff is only present part-time. Once we got the "lay of the land" it was a wonderful home base and having a small in-room refridge was a bonus.

We have stayed at Piccola Maison in Feb '09 for a night as we had an early connection flight next morning. I did extensive search and I have to admit I couldn't find a better place! The room was such a nice surprise, very clean, new furniture, very quite as it's situated on a small street far from trafic, excellent reception service. True what previous reviews stated, room is a bit small (but so cosy!) and the elevator is very small (...but we couldn't care less!). I only regret that I didn't arrange the pick up from the airport with them when we arrived and we paid 20 EUR more.

I will definetely stay in the same place in the future!

Maybe I shouldn´t say it because I guess then you won´t be able to have the same feeling but here it goes - we found this hotel in a website and booked it because of its price. "Nicer" hotels of 4 stars were more expensive and didn´t look that good so we preferred to reduce the budget and expected just a bed to rest. Then we got into our room and found out that we did the best choice not only because of the price but because it offered much more that expected: fully renovated, very clean, nice, we had an spacious room, a big bathroom with jacuzzi and the owners are nice and helpful. So if you are looking for a comfortable place in Rome don´t think it twice, it´s a very a good deal.