Do not believe anything you read on the Villa Maria website.

In my wisdom, I booked this place for my hen party.

The villa is NOT 5km from Rome, it is more like 20. We spent more on taxis than on the holiday itself. There is no shuttle bus service and you are likely to be fined if you try to use the bus because there is nowhere to buy tickets before you board.

I am not sure what an American breakfast is but I am certain it is not what we were served each day - a microwaved to death pain au chocolat and serve yourself coffee.

The pool is nice but you are not allowed near it until 10am when a surly lifeguard turns up, then, you find you have to wear a disgusting swimming hat to go in the water - not what you need on a hen party!

Reception is useless, in fact when we returned from Rome on our last night, our keys were nowhere to be seen and we had to pay up before we could have them back!!

I asked if they had many guests that just came once and the reply was just a knowing smile.

Please, please, go anywhere else!

Stayed here for one night in May. Left the next day to find alternative accomodation. It is in the middle of nowhere. If you have no interest in visiting Rome, enjoy terrible service, mediocre facilities, and the sense of being dumped in NO-Man's land without ever being able to escape then this is the place for you!

This place was awful. We were a big group. There was no transportation into Rome. The closest restaurtants were too long a hike unless your fit (we had children and older folks along). We ended up moving closer into town and although they promised to reimburse us for the unused nights they never did. Our Visa card wouldn't argue for us, so we were out US $650. Don't pay your bill in advance. The breakfast was pathetic. There was no heat (we were here at Christmas) and barely any lights. There is not hot spring or hot pool in the winter at least. This was a big mistake. Don't even think about it.

From advertising I got the impression that this hotel was near Tivoli -- which it is not. It's a long way from anywhere. When we were lost, an information officer called the Hotel for us and was told that they could not send any transport for us, even to the Tibertina station, which is the nearest.

It was very difficult to find out at the station which bus to take. The bus only comes every hour (not every half hour) and you must walk at least a half mile from Villa Maria to the main road to catch it. There is no food available except a sparse breakfast, so for dinner we had to walk about a mile on a very busy road with no sidewalks in the dark.

We asked for transportation to either the Termini station or the Tibertina station to catch a train to the airport, and were told they would call a taxi for us. And that the cost would be 30 Euros to either station.

The room we were given opened directly onto a public room used for breakfast and by the family during the day.