One of Rome's few and most frustrating disappointments, unless you're staying in a luxury hotel, can often be a hotel room not up to one's expectation. How utterly depressing when, with a forced smile, you hastily come out with an apologetic "we'll be out most of the time anyhow". Apartments on the other hand can have you bouncing on the beds with enthusiasm. I've actually seen an entire family do this (no, not mine).
Sometimes located in grand palazzi still owned by the Roman nobility, holiday rentals here are highly sought after. You could find yourself in a medieval building, a baroque palazzo or a 19th century tenement, perfectly and often quite strikingly renovated. More often than not period details such as wood beamed ceilings, wall frescoes and antiques have been skilfully restored sometimes after long periods of neglect.
A good reason to book an apartment is to experience the everyday shopping for food the Italian way, in one of the many vibrant outdoor markets scattered around the city, then returning "home" with the delicious booty and seeing how much better everything tastes here than back home (it really DOES taste better here). This is also the ideal way to chit chat with some hardcore romani and polish up on your Italian.
There are numerous online booking companies. An excellent selection of choice apartments in unbeatable Rome locations is offered by www.rome-accom.com, owned and operated by local husband and wife team, Jill and Leon Kammer. They are personally familiar with each property (and have already discarded the ones you wouldn't want to set foot in) and have created an impressively fluid website with unusually accurate descriptions and plenty of good quality images.
www.rome-accom.com
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