I was looking for a reasonable B&B in Rome because I didn't want to stay in a hostel for three days. I found Dormire Altrove on a random website, liked how it looked, and liked the price even better: 40 Euros a night ( for a single room) with breakfast included, free internet and a private bathroom - score. The problem started when I called the hotel and no one could really speak English very well - at least well enough for me to feel comfortable. I worried that I would end up in a dump with strange freaks, but I took the plunge anyway and just trusted that everything was going to workout.

When I got to the The Termini in Rome, I had to take the METRO A (red line) subway to the the last stop (Anagnina) and then two buses to get to the hotel which is in a residential area (Castelli Romani). Now, the owner did come and pick me up from the train station so I wouldn't have to travel by bus ( I had to travel by bus the next day which took an hour 1/2 to get to Rome and the same to return to the hotel at night). This in itself was a miracle because his english was bad to non existent and my Italian was 100 x's worse, but somehow we managed to make it work. We drove to the hotel and arrived a 1/2 hour later to a clean, beautiful, QUIET, quaint, brightly colored, funky modern B&B with charm to boot. My room was lovely with a huge queen size bed, a closet with a lock, a television, and a bathroom. Once I got myself settled, they made arrangements for me to have dinner at a near by restaurant where I had a hearty meal. The owner's wife drove me around the corner and picked me up after I was finished. I slept like a rock that evening. The only issue was the comfort of the mattress. The bed was too hard for my taste, but what a beautiful bed it was :-)

I woke the next morning to a continental breakfast of: juice, cappuccino, cold cereal, yogurt, and an assortment of delicious pastries. I was later informed by the owner's wife who's english was slightly understandable that they close the hotel from 11-6 for business and that I had to leave. I made my trek to the bus stop which was down the street and around the corner from the hotel. I had to take a 10 minute bus ride to another bus depot and then transfer to another bus that went into the city. This literally took me almost 2hours because of traffic and the number of stops the driver made to pick up other passengers. But being able to be among the culturally diverse people of Rome and to see it's not so popular places in all its rawness was a refreshing and priceless experience.

So if you don't mind the commute and being a bit of a ways outside of the city where your money can stretch a little bit more, then I HIGHLY recommend this place. The owner's were very accommodating, friendly and patient. Just make sure that you brush up on your Italian and have the owners tell you which bus stop to get off of once you get back into the neighborhood of the hotel. Perhaps you will have better luck with the language exchange then I did. The wife said that she planned to work on her English. I promised to work on my Italian for the next time.

Good luck!