Prior to our arrival we called for directions, only to be told they were overbooked and we'd be staying at another hotel for the first night. Villa Maria did pick up our luggage and upgraded the room when we got there. The bus route outside the hotel doesn't go directly to any of the sights. You must transfer to a tram, metro or another bus. The website said "close to the Vatican". It took nearly 45 minutes and two buses to get there. Breakfast was not impressive compared to the other hotels we stayed at. We learned dinner was only served when a group was staying at the hotel. After being told dinner was being served one night, we found it wasn't when we went to eat. I inquired about delivery from somewhere else, since the hotel is located in a quiet, residential area. Not possible. The staff made no effort to try and help us get dinner. However, the biggest complaint we had was the hot water. Or, should I say lack of in the morning. The room was clean. There's a nice terrace on the upper level. But, unless you're with a tour group, I would stay elsewhere. The staff could also do better. I would rather have paid more Euros, and stayed closer to the center of the city. It was too much of a hassle to return to the hotel, and go back into the city.

we arrived at the airport at 5pm only to find out that there were no buses to the hotel we had to catch a taxi paying 50 euro to get us to the hotel which took almost a hour to get there, on arriving at the hotel we were hungry, only to be told that there were no resturant faciltes available, we had to walk for 1/2 hour to find somewhere, the hotel was full of young student running around and playing music loudly most the night, complainted to the desk. It is a long way from the centre, had to catch a bus then the metro, taking over 1 hours, renovation work being done, not very helpful staff, would not recommond this hotel,

No problems at all. Helpful staff, nice beds and food.
Its miles from the centre of town...you have to get two buses to the centre or one bus and a tram to the Piaza del Popolo.
If you enjoy walking then by all means this is for you. A nice up and coming area with alot of wine bars and some nice resaurants about a mile from the hotel and a decent market on saturdays!

Round the corner from that is a swimming baths and the Olympic Stadium.
Be warned...if you have an early morning flight home this hotel is on the total opposite side of the city from both airports!

I booked this hotel because of the "Close to the Vatican" hook and we wanted to be "close". The map wasn't helpful, not clear about location. Thought "close" implied within walking distance, it's NOT. It's MILES from the Vatican. Felt that was deceptive marketing. It's really far from the historic Roman sites we wanted to see. It was cheap but more than made up the difference in cabfare/busfare (took more time) than if we'd booked something more central @ a higher rate.