If you want to escape the noisy madness and traffic of Rome, the Hotel San’t Anselmo is the ideal place. Situated on the Aventine hill (well worth the uphill climb!!), in a leafy piazza, it offers an excellent, quiet location and a high quality, but expensive experience. The hotel is about a 10 minutes’ walk from Via Marmorata, where there is easy access to both the excellent bus service & metro. All sites are readily accessible by walking or bus. The Vatican is probably the furthest away, but still can be walked to along the River Tiber in 45 minutes or reached easily on the 23 bus.
The hotel quality is excellent, with lovely, quiet, well appointed and air conditioned rooms. The Hotel’s front desk staff, whilst perhaps giving an initial impression of being somewhat cold, were actually professional, efficient & helpful whenever asked for assistance. The buffet breakfast is high quality and continental in style, with a wide menu choice, but you will not find an attempt at an ‘English breakfast’. The adjacent Hotel San Pio has a lovely dining room for dinner & or you can eat outside in the lovely hotel grounds. If you decide to eat out, then ignore guide books which advise you to eat in Testaccio (which we found quite run down & not pleasant), but cross the Pont Sublicio bridge and head into Trastevere which has a number of good restaurants.

As previously mentioned by others, the hotel is in a great location - on a quiet piazza, only a 20-minute stroll down the hill into the thick of things - and in a really beautiful part of Rome that you probably wouldn't get to see otherwise, given it's not slap bang in the centre.

Both the common areas and the rooms (at least the one we were in - 831, the Mirror Room) are really lovely - OK, so our room wasn't the biggest, but it was big enough and certainly didn't feel cramped. Breakfast (outside in the garden when we were there in mid-May) is fantastic.The overall impression is romantic and elegant, and we enjoyed our stay.

But - is it worth the price we paid (270 euros per night)? On balance, not quite. First, even though all rooms are advertised as having air-con, it's really pretty feeble compared to (far less expensive) hotels I've stayed at elsewhere. As a result, the room never really dropped to a temperature that I would call comfortable. And remember we went in mid-May, when the weather was 27 degrees (that's about 82 degrees ) - I imagine in mid-summer, when the temperature can hit close to 40, it must get pretty unbearable.

Mainly, though, as others have mentioned on this site, we were really disappointed - angry, in fact - with the attitude of the front-desk staff. We also experienced the general sense of apathy when we checked in, and on the odd occasion that we needed some information.

Worse, though - we needed internet access during our stay, but our in-room internet connection wasn't working. The front desk seemed totally unconcerned by this, suggesting that we walk to another hotel to use their internet - despite the fact that the front desk had internet access on a computer right there, and could easily have let us use it for two minutes. At the other hotel we had to hang around waiting for the sole computer terminal to come free.

Are these big issues? Not really, no. But after having paid a fair chunk of money for a room, I would have expected better all-round service than this. It's these small things that make the difference between a good experience and a great one. Would we recommend it? Yes, but with reservations. Would we go back there? Maybe - but I'd also shop around to see if any better options presented themselves.

We stayed for 3 nights in March. Loved the hotel. We stayed in the Poesy room with italian love poems on the wall and chandelier, very romantic. The public rooms of the hotel were beautifully done as well. We like to stay in off the beaten path spots, and this hotel is tucked away in a residential area on aventine hill. While it was very quiet, I do agree with other reviewers that at the end of a long day on foot, its a long walk up the hill! The only reservation we had about the hotel was that compared to the two other hotels we stayed at in tuscany and venice, we felt the staff was a bit cool and not overly helpful. Also, the restaurant that was recommended for dinner was mediocre.

My husband and I stayed in this hotel in Jan 2008 for 3 nights and it was fantastic. I am so glad that I just fell upon on it after an extensive internet search. Hotels in central Rome are very expensive. I found this one based on our budget and then read the positive views here on trip advisor. I have to say it was one of the best hotels that we have stayed in on a city break and we have stayed in alot of European cities. First of all its tucked away and not that easy to find...think we got ripped off by the taxi driver as he didnt understand the one way system near the hotel...but when we did get there we were glad of the secluded location as it means you are in a quiet residential area away from all the noise of the city but only a 20 minute walk from the colliseum. The staff were friendly and showed us to our fantastic room- outside the back of the hotel called the vanity suite! ( And we never requested a suite and got it for the standard price- maybe because it was out of season- we never asked why!) It was wonderful- spacious and well appointed but the bathroom blew us away- it was under the bedroom and all lit up with a huge sunk roman bath- amazing! We had great breakfasts in the hotel...varied range of continetal goodies. In the evening a lovely glass of cava in the small cosy bar area. All in all I love this hotel- its trendy and glam in an understated way and all for only 120 euros a night...probably gone up now but I would still go back! As it was in a quiet area the hotel gave us a list of local restaurants and we had some fun at these local tratatorias with no menus or price guides!! All in all a fantastic break and I recommend this hotel to anyone I hear going to Rome.