Casa Giovy

We booked a week at Bed and Breakfast Casa Giovy starting at October 5th 2008. It sounded romantic. We actually stayed only for one day on October 6th, since we had a problem with our flight. Casa Giovy advertises itself as bed and breakfast. They charged us 90 Euros per night for two people. (In Rome at this time a two star hotel room costs 90 Euros. In the center of the city) Upon arrival, we had been immediately disappointed. Casa Giovy is way out of the center of Rome, certainly a long walk over the claimed 600m from the nearest Subway station. It is in a normal house, where one normal apartment was converted into three “B&B” rooms. The conversion means there are 3 rooms, two of which we have not seen, and they had some bathroom facilities in the rooms themselves. Our room had its own bathroom, but you had to walk to this bathroom across a common area (hall) shared by the one other room. (Imagine going to the bathroom several times at night through the common area in your pyjamas or undies.) The place is near the railway line, and you could hear the trains from our room. There were no common eating facilities. The room had a double bed, two small plastic stools, a small table, a hanging wardrobe with one (!) shelf, no dresser, no chairs, no telephone. There was a tiny TV set on top of the wardrobe. The bed and breakfast place had NO breakfast area. We were advised upon arrival that we cannot use the common hall for breakfast, we have to use our own room. The “kitchen” portion of the hall was separated from the lobby by a curtain. In fact, the kitchen portion had no real kitchen part, no sink, no heating facilities only cutleries and plates, an espresso pot, a refrigerator and some food stock. After arrival I was trying to have a shower in our bathroom. There was no hot water, only barely warm water. Later we advised Joanna, the owner of the B&B, and her husband adjusted something (I assume the boiler), and the water became warmer, but still not hot, even though they tried to convince me it was hot. Unfortunately, Joanna, who is a nice and apparently kind person tried to organize a B&B on the cheap, the furniture is very cheap (such as plastic stools and no chairs, no telephones.) In our bathroom the side of the bathtub was taken out, probably for some repairs, but never replaced. There is a mirror cupboard in the bathroom with lights, but I could never find the means to turn on those lights, if that was possible.

The food provided is also done on the cheap. As for breakfast, there was no orange juice, (there was some orangeade) there was some fruit, cereal, baked goods, you could make your own espresso. However, there was no place to sit, no place to put the dirty dishes. It was help yourself. When I was having breakfast, there was one slice of cheese in the refrigerator and three tomatoes; admittedly there were plenty of baked goods, i.e., croissants and some kind of cake.

Perhaps the biggest problem was the fact that there was no place for eating and the common hall was used as the pathway to another room, and to our bathroom which was across the hall. Also to travel to the center of Rome takes too long. All and all the place is good for students as dormitory facilities, especially those attending the American Academy, but not for adult travelers. A reasonable room charge might be 50 Euros for two.