On the whole we enjoyed out weekend stay at the Castello. I have visited Rome many times on business and have usually stayed in a city centre hotel. As this trip was mainly holiday, I deliberately chose the Castello as I wanted a relaxing break away from the noise and crowds in the centre. The idea of a castle also appealed and the hotel website had some very attractive pictures of the place.
The drive in our hire car from Fiumicino airport to the hotel should have taken less than 30 minutes, but even though I had programmed the hotel address carefully into the memory, we were still not adequately prepared for he chaotic (i.e. typically Roman) road network approaching the hotel. The first thing to note is that the hotel can only be approached from the North, any maps showing direct vehicle access from the southeast of La Giustiniana village are wrong, you will just end up back on the GRA!!! After two phone calls to the hotel and lots of driving around in the dark, we eventaully found the hotel access road.
Driving hints: continue driving northwest of La Giustiniana on Via Cassia for approx 1.5km. DO NOT be tempted to turn off Via Cassia into La Giustiniana centre. If you are sharp-eyed you will then see a small yellow hotel sign indicating a left turn off Via Cassia. So, turn left, go straight ahead at the small roundabout and under the railway bridge. Then turn left at the T-junction and follow what can best be described as a pot-holed farm track (!) for approx 1.5km, turning towards the left at a small restaurant, then climbing slightly uphill. The hotel is at the end of the final 300m straight section.
The hour wasted trying to find the hotel in the dark with inadequate directions from the hotel was stressful, completely avoidable if the hotel were to add the above information to their website (and put up a bigger sign), and did not get the trip off to a good start.
Check-in was fine, and the Castello does look very impressive floodlit at night. We were allocated a small "attic" room with exposed beams. Not a particularly bad room, but were were expecting something with a "wow" factor after seeing the pictures on the website. We were also dissatisfied with having a skylight as the only window and a very small bathroom.
I raised these issues with the front desk the following morning and we were transferred to a more pleasant room with a great view out of the window and a larger bathroom with bath.
We ate two dinners in the hotel, the first was excellent and reasonably priced for the quality of food and the atmospheric dining room. The second meal was definitely inferior - one of our orders came out wrong and my tuna steak was overcooked. Pity, as a hotel in this price bracket with such an atmospheric dining room really needs to deliver the highest food standards. Our other dinner was taken at the Antica restaurant round the corner from the railway station in La Giustiniana, a typical local restaurant with pleasant Italian staples and cosy atmosphere. I was glad to have the car though as it was raining.
Some other reviewers have mentiomed walking from the hotel to La Giustiniana but I would not advise this at all unless you are a fit, determined walker and have plenty of time on your hands. A hire car is virtually essential for the Castello. I also noticed that there was no taxi rank visible in the villagem and it would be unwise to rely on the hotel shuttle which is very infrequent and can be late if the rush hour traffic is bad (happened to us the one time we used this service).
On balance we enjoyed our short stay at this hotel, but I would rate it more highly had it not been for the accessibility problems oin the first night and the patchy service in the restaurant. Both these issues could easily be tackled by the hotel management if they chose to do so. So, recommended but watch out for the issues mentioned.
