All in all we enjoyed our experience here and we would highly recommend it. However, you need to know what you are getting.
First the positives. It is ideally located if you want to visit the Vatican. It is about a 1 minute walk to the entrance to the Vatican Museum and a 10 minute walk to St. Peter's. It is also clean, clean, clean.
Things to be aware of:
We had a considerable language barrier. The whole facility is gated. There was no sign out front and when we rang the bell at 87 Viale Vaticano (the listed address) we could not get buzzed in. I tried to call by phone as well but saying my name and reservation in Italian was not enough to get in. I walked to a nearby restaurant and a kind waiter called for me and was able to tell me I had to ring the buzzer next door. I think it was at 88 Viale Vaticano. There was no sign there either. If you can speak Italian or Spanish it would really help if you stay there. By the way, it turns out that the building we stayed in is at 87 Viale Vaticano. But to get there you have to get inside the main gate next door. Trust me it was confusing, not a typical hotel setup.
Once we got checked in, things improved. We were able to get a double room (separate beds) for me and my wife, a triple room for my daughters, and a single room for my mother. There may be a surcharge for single rooms.
There is nothing fancy about the rooms but ours all had private baths. It is worth mentioning again how clean everything is.
Breakfast is included but very modest. Coffee, juice, rolls, jam, cheese. Just enough to get jump started.
The whole place is very peaceful and the nuns were very nice. A lot of the difficulties we had were because of our inability to speak the local language. So if you speak Italian (or Spanish) you will be fine. Also, if you are flexible and willing to communicate creatively you will also be fine.
We would go back and we highly recommend this accommodation to anyone looking for a nice, safe, clean, reasonably priced stay near the Vatican.
