Just returned from Rome on 9/18/05. The Minerve is an outstanding hotel, 5 star staff - reception desk, concierge, and bell staff all included - and I'm very picky about hotels. We booked a deluxe queen room for fear of the tiny rooms we had heard about in Europe - it was a suite! All one big room, but suite non-the-less, with king size bed (not a queen), and the entry hallway and closet provided nice insulation against elevator noise - we never heard it and we were right next to it. Windows also shut tightly and completely eliminated street noise at night - individual A/C thermostat in room, so we stayed nice and cool. The deluxe rooms are huge, with nice sized bathroom, all marble, and jacuzzi tub (which was so wonderful after all-day walking). We were in room 530, looking out over the Piazza de Minerva and had a nice view of the Pantheon. Right next door is a beautiful Catholic church (Santa Maria Sopra Minerva) with amazing art and a statue by Michaelangelo (Masses at 8am & 6pm). The rooftop restaurant, Le Cesta, is lovely with great views of the city. We opted for a package that turned out to be quite economical - deluxe room, breakfast each morning (choice of full American buffet downstairs or continental in your room), and one 3 course dinner for two at Le Cesta, for about 495 euros a night. Also a "welcome drink" at the lobby bar, but not your choice of drink; sparkling wine or soft drink, although they let me have an espresso instead. Package price sounds high, but not for this particular room, and breakfast would have run us 31 euros per person if we'd payed separately, plus the lovely dinner (4-5 star) we enjoyed on the rooftop would've easily cost us 300USD. Tips: Don't buy water or drinks at the little outdoor stands; there's a supermarket off the Piazza Rotunda (Via Gustnani, I think?) and the deluxe rooms have mini-friges. Long lines at the supermarket, but they move fast. There's also a wine shop with great prices on the street that runs between the hotel and the church - 31 euros for a bottle of my favorite super tuscan that costs $60 at home, and a 9 euro bottle that was also quite good. We ended up enjoying a late breakfast (buffet serves til 10:30am) and not being hungry at lunchtime, so we just kept site-seeing til dinner. You can eat a casual dinner for as little as 5 euros for pizza for two at a little Pizzeria around the corner toward the Pantheon (wonderful!). I don't recommend any of the outdoor cafes on the major piazzas close to the hotel for a nicer dinner - pricey and not great quality. But step around the corner from any of the piazzas and find authentic Italian (house wines are excellent!) for the same price or less. Try one on the street (they're more like alleys than streets) that leads from the north end of the Piazza Navonna to the Trevi Fountain - it has a walkway of flat paving stones set in the middle of the cobblestones; we called it the "yellow brick road" becauase it's so easy to follow and leads straight to the Trevi. Best authentic Italian dinners for best prices are in Trastavere (full dinner for 3, with wine, for 43 euros), an area that seemed to be as populated with Italians as with tourists. Shopping was better on Via Cola de Rienze (out by the Vatican, just east of museum) than on the pricey streets like the Via Corso, Condotti, and the designer shops on the Vitorio Veneto. The Cola de Rienze shops seemed to be more frequented by the locals and had excellent quality clothing and other items. After shopping, try taking the boat taxi (1 euro per person!) from Pont Castel Sant Angelo (dock is opposite of river from the Castle) down the river to Trastavere for dinner. Great cafes all around the Santa Maria en Trastavere church, or cross the river and check out the fresh market in Campo di Fiori, then stop in at one of the cafes on that piazza - La Carbonara is right on the piazza and is great with reasonable prices. Also, the fresh fruit is Rome in beyond compare to anything in the U.S. - grown just 30 min. outside the city and picked at the peak of ripeness. Wonderful city, fantastic hotel, wonderful sites, great food - just bring well-worn-in walking shoes, cause the metros are useless (not like Paris; too few trains, not enough stops, and never seem to go where you want to go)and the buses are crowded. Rome is very compact; we walked from the hotel to the Vatican and from the hotel to the Colosseum/Forum - it is never as far as it looks on the map. Plus with all that walking, you can eat anything you want and never gain an ounce!