Trastervere has local and touristo feel, close to trams and in walking distance of the Vatican, Colloseum etc if your feet are up to it. We stayed here twice, staff can be unfriendlly when cafe busy, especialy in the mornings. Our Italian must have improved for second stay in the month, as they appeard more willing to smile. Rooms vary in size and quietness, last room had paper thin walls, could everything in room next door. Rooms over the inner courtyard are thin walled, rooms looking over the piazza have usual street noise but more soundproof. Take a google map to find it. Location is the highlight.

We are just back from a great break in Italy. We stayed 5 nights in Rome and 6 nights in Venice and we both loved the experience. Rome is a very expensive place to stay, and finding value can be difficult. After a fair bit of research we booked the 5 nights at the Locanda San Cosimato in Trastevere. It isn't a hotel as such, it is 2 large apartments on the first floor of the building that have been converted into en-suite bedrooms. The rooms are small, but clean and functional. We stayed in room 3 and this was above the Cafe below which is is owned by the same people. Our room looked out onto the piazza below with its fruit stalls, lock-ups and a children's play area.
We arrived at Trastevere Railway station from Fiumcino Airport, 8€ single fare each. When you arrive in Trastevere you may be surprised at the extensive graffiti, begging and street vendors offering all kinds of goods. Try to look beyond this because the locals are friendly and this is were the real Roman population live but first impressions are not great. We took a taxi from the station to the Locanda, fare was 9 € and the taxis all have satnav and meters so you can see the fare ticking over.
Access to the Locanda is via the Cafe, just ask in the cafe and they will get you sorted out., or ring the bell to the right of the 2 big green doors. The Locanda is marked on a bellpush. The building has a lift which does look as if it came out of a 1920's Poirot episode. On the first floor are some doors, two have Locanda door-mats and these lead through to the rooms, there is also a door to the Local Psychotherapist!
The hotel is in a great location for the main sights of Rome, you can walk to the Vatican in 25mins, Castell Sant 'Angello in 30mins, Pantheon and Colloseum.
Trastevere comes alive at night as the maze of streets is filled with small local bars, cafe, restaurants. The atmosphere is great as all of the Romans come out after a hard working day. Head for the banks of the Tiber and you will find the banksides filled with stalls, food vendors and bars. A great place to go.
We ate locally and you copuld get a decent meal for €40-45 for two people including drinks. We enjoyed the Pizza Roma restaurant that was just across street from the Locanda, great staff andf good food. The pizzas were excellent, and if you sat outside you could view the great street entertainment!! One night we got 2 accordionists, a singer who sounded like Madame Edith from Allo Allo!!, a canoodling couple getting over-amorous 20ft from my table, various rose-vendors and a street person searching through his entire worldly goods which were contained in a large rucksack for a razor!

Trastevere is a great location, the area offers better value for money and we paid €100 per night for our room including breakfast. Breakfast is taken though a doorway in the Cafe that leads to the next door Al-Sphagettaria restaurant. Cereals, bread, jam, ham, cheese and croissants were all available, just order a cappucino or Latte from the Cafe staff as you go through for breakfast.

For good basic, clean accomodation in Trastevere the Locanda is great for €100 per night per room, the rooms are small but they are functional and have air-conditioning.

The only drawback was the rooms are above the cafe and Al-Spaghettiaria restaurant so you will get some noise from these and you will hear the restaurant owner locking up his tables every night with chains.

Would we return to the Locanda? Yes, we would as it offered everything we needed, decent value for Rome and it was a great location.

They advertise free wireless internet in all rooms which is a falsehood as they do not have any, which was the major reason I booked here. The room was small and overlooked the piazza which was noisy early in the morning and the walls were also paper thin and you could hear everything from either side. Fortunately the restaurant and bar area is not too far away from it, but I would say it still has mixture of the run down and exciting and probably wouldn't suit families and the over 30's.

A bit hard to find -- the hotel is run out of the Caffe San Cosimato (one door to the right of "al Spaghettari," -- white neon sign) on Piazza San Cosimato. (The #8 "Argentina" tram will get you from the Trastevere train station to within a couple blocks of the hotel.)

Excellent location, easy to walk to all the major Roman sites, and the neigborhood has several great places to eat and drink.

The room was smal, but very clean, and there was plenty of hot water in the shower. Flat screen TV had all the Italian channels -- the only English language station was BBC World News. Breakfast is very Roman, croissants with a coffee, though cereal and makings for ham and cheese sandwiches are also served.