We stayed in Residenza Farnese from 16th to 21st September 2007. The location of the hotel is perfect for exploring Rome and we visited most of the city on foot. The hotel is close to the Campo de Fiori (maybe too close) which is handy for picnic food and evening drinks but definitely noisy at the week end. We enjoyed the proximity to the Ponte Sisto so most evenings we ended up in Trastevere for our late night drink.

The hotel was extremely clean and well maintained with very helpful staff, all of whom spoke excellent English. Rooms vary in style from stylish to rather old fashioned but are comfortably finished with good bathrooms, sorry read that as shower rooms as there are no baths.

Good breakfasts were included with our room; wide selection of breads, pastries and cold meats, excellent coffee but mediocre tea and poor quality fruit juice.

I would definitely stay again but rooms away from the front of he hotel are quieter as the narrow street seems to be a popular short cut for late night revellers.

We were very pleased with our 2 rooms May18-20 during our first trip to Rome. Each had a nice view and was very quiet. The desk clerks were very helpful and the breakfast buffet (included in the room price) was very nice. Our cash rate was E260 per room per night for each superior double room. This is a great location and is only steps away from Campo de Fiori and a short distance from Piazza Navona. The hotel did a great job arranging our pick-up service to and from the airport. The Mercedes SUV was nice and roomy for 4 adults and 6 pieces of luggage plus carry-ons.

We (2 adults & 4 yr old) stayed here for 2 nights in July 2006. We arrived late at night during a taxi strike. We were quickly led to our room, it suited our needs nicely. It had a double bed + a little bed for our 4 yr old. The air conditioning was nice, the room was big enough for us. The breakfast was what you would expect, typical for a European breakfast. The staff was quite helpful and pleasant. We didn't have any problems with the hotel or the location. We were not out later than 11:00pm, we didn't find the neighborhood scary or anything. It was good. We enjoyed the Campo di Fiore, very nice market! Good location, 15 minute walk to the touristy areas. Price was okay, normal by Rome standards. I would recommend this hotel and I would consider staying there again.

It took us forever to find the location. It is smooshed between two buildings in an alley. Yes, the French embassy is nearby but it is around the corner.

PROS:
1) Clean rooms. We booked a Deluxe suite so the room size was acceptable (240 Euro a night). I do know that anything below that is tiny.
2) The hotel was near the Pantheon, Piazza Farnese and Navona. It is my opinion that you can walk everywhere you need to see in Rome (we are pretty active) so while the Spanish Steps and Colosium might be far for your average overweight tourist, it did not bother us.

CONS:
1) The hotel advertises that it has hi-speed internet access. When we get there we are told that we need to pay $10 more a day to get a cable. Fine, we did it. But then for the first 3 days it never worked! They sent a technie guy up once. It wasn't until the 3rd day of our 4 day stay did they offer to move us to another room. At that point it wasn't worth it.
2) While the actual location is near lots of sights, there are some seriously shady locals who hang out near the alleyway near the entrance. One evening while my husband and I were walking in the alleyway of the hotel a scary looking homeless person got up off the ground and started following us.....it happened up to 5 feet of the hotel! Next time I think I will get a hotel that isn't facing another building in an tiny alley.
3) The walls are VERY thin. You could practically kick in the walls they were so thin.
4) Staff was not able to offer any usable advice regarding tours, tickets, etc.


Overall this was my least favorite place to stay on my entire Italy trip. If I were to go back I would not choose this hotel.