Il Gattopardo Relais

I have to say the hotel 'grew on me' over our stay. This is not a large hotel with a sign outside and flashy entrance, It is basically one floor in an apartment block which has been converted into hotel rooms. But the apartment block itself is a quaint old block with huge wooden doors and a pretty spiral staircase and seems to be made up mainly of offices apart from the hotel. Make sure you take specific directions with you as the street numbering is confusing.

Once inside it is a well looked after hotel with antique style furniture rather than a modern look but this fits in well with the style of the rooms.

Our only gripe was that the first room we were given had clearly not been cleaned from the last occupant - which we realise when we went to get showered and there were dirty towels on the floor in the bathroom .However, when we pointed this out we were quickly moved into another room which was actually bigger and nicer than the first. Plenty of space, high ceilings and decent size bathroom.

Our room overlooked the main road so I could imagine that those sensitive to noise might find it a little noisy but we had no trouble sleeping in the massive and very comfortable bed. There was plenty of hotwater, blankets and the room was warm enough given it was still quite cold. At night you would need to get a cab home as the metro closes a little early.

We paid 315 euros for 3 nights which included breakfast. The thing that put this hotel a step above others in this category was that no matter what time of day or night you came in, they were happy to see you. When we came out for breakfast at 11am they were happy to serve us. When we were checking out and mentioned that it was my boyfriends birthday the receptionist ran exitedly into the bar area and gave us a free bottle of wine to take home with us. summary - hotel good, rooms good, price good and staff exceptional

Unique Quality: Staff, rooms are larger than usual for a city break

Directions: Walking distance of vatican city on metro line A