Initially i had trouble checking in, because i have to wait for 2 hours, apparently, its a holiday in rome and no front desk personnel is available. The room is excellent. spacious and clean. the bed is big enough and the pillows are not too soft and not too hard. the linens are egyptian cotton. heated floor etc. i picked the garden view room and its beautiful. i have a flower box and an orange tree when i open the window.

breakfast is fair enough, coffee, tea, milk, chocolate, juice. different types of cheese, croissant, multigrain bread, butter, nuttela, marmalade, etc. its a few meters away from the Manzoni train station

Visited this little gem in Rome late October/November 2011. It is a little difficult to find, but if you follow the travel and location details given by the hotel you will get there - it has a small plaque on the wall indicating its locus - press the bell and hey presto your'e in - rooms are spacious, clean and tidy if a little basic with good size en-suite - again clean and tidy (excellent showers)!
Downside is no tea/coffee making facilities in room, but access to Kitchen is allowed and can be made there (although breakfast staff didn't seem to keen on this!) Breakfast is certainly not the best, with cereal, rolls, hb eggs and cheese (no meats/fruit etc etc) tea/coffee but it is quite acceptable.
The garden is delightful and a lovely location to eat breakfast, especially when warm and sunny.
The location is absolutely fantastic if you are visiting the historical sites of Rome, (which is a must) - with the Colosseum just five minutes walk and the underground metro (Manzoni station) right on the doorstep - which makes all the other locations within a 10 minute ride - for very little cost at 1e. Also use the bus tours (two day ticket) which is good value and get on and off when and where you like to visit historical sites or just go shopping.
There are an abundance of Bars and Cafes within a short distance, most reasonably priced. From Manzoni station take the exit towards the Colosseum and turn right at the first set of traffic lights - 200m on your left is a Spa supermarket which has everything one requires - and with access to the kitchen at the hotel there is no excuse for not taking lunch with you. I certainly do not think you will find better value in Rome with everything at hand for the intrepid visitor.

Just returned from a week long trip to Rome with my girlfriend staying at the Gioia B&B and I have to say it was a mainly positive experience. I've read quite a lot of reviews where people have commented the apartments were difficult to find - but I'd say this of many parts of Rome - just come prepared with a decent street map and don't expect every Italian to speak English! If you're arriving via Termini train station, navigate your way to the Red metro line and head in the direction of Anagnina. You want to get off at Manzoni, which is two stops later. Alternatively there are buses, but if you're a first-timer to Rome I'd avoid until you've found your feet. From Manzoni metro station get your street map out - it's probably about 5 minutes on foot.

The room we had at Gioia was spacious and clean - the 'double' bed was actually two singles placed next to one another but was comfortable enough. The air-conditioning made the hot, sticky August nights bearable and there was a TV with a vast array of Italian channels. There was always hot water and, again, the bathroom was spacious and clean.

We dealt mainly with a young guy called Francesco who was extremely friendly and obliging, recommending restaurants and services nearby and an older lady, who spoke no English but was absolutely adorable - always happy to see you and; doing her best to ask how you were. We normally only saw this lady in the evenings but she was always very busy cleaning up.

Breakfast is a simple affair, served alfresco, although with the warm August mornings we ate in the separate conservatory-like building in the courtyard. There is a continental selection of fresh coffee, milk, hot water, tea bags, mineral water and cordial which all guests help themselves to. Boiled eggs were also available, but for some reason these stopped appearing by our forth day. On each guest table there are baskets containing fresh rolls and then a selection of croissants, crisp-bread and biscuity-cakes. There are jams, Nutella, cheese slices and butter. Bar the rolls and coffee, everything else is pre-packed and plastic covered, so if you're expecting to eat like a king you may need to consider alternatives. If like us, you're visiting Rome to soak up the atmosphere and culture, the basic breakfast is not really a negative. The lady that serves it, however, is! Surly is not really the word - this lady is to customer service what the devil is to the Vatican City; in other words, it would appear that dealing with tourists was not Vera's lifelong ambition when she left school. On our first morning my girlfriend took an extra bread roll from the table adjacent to ours, when Vera clocked this she went absolutely ballistic - throwing the basket on the floor and scattering the remaining bread on the floor; this despite the fact that the table had just been vacated and the rolls were spare. She then stomped off, madly gesticulating and no-doubt cursing us in Italian. Great first impressions! Other guests seemed already experienced of Vera's fiery temper and one French gentleman muttered quietly, "she is like a crazy woman". Unfortunately we never saw Vera's softer side!

There is a shared kitchen area with an oven, large fridge freezer, double wash basins and plenty of pots, pans, cutlery and crockery. We used the cooker mainly to boil water for tea and coffee, as there are no kettles anywhere to be seen. Again, the kitchen was always very clean and was rarely used by the other guests during our stay.

All in all I would seriously recommend Gioia. We are not talking here about 5* luxury but if you're after somewhere to crash that's cheap, clean and has a largely 'homely' atmosphere then this is the place for you. I've read other reviews commenting on how the area is unsettling at night. I realise this is a subjective thing but I felt no more in danger here than walking down some of the even well-lit tourist spots in London. 5 minutes away from the nearest metro station and, 15-20 minutes to Termini train station and 15 minutes to the Colosseum puts it in serious competition with other more expensive destinations. Just remember to say hi to Vera from me!

We stayed here for one night at the end of a trip around Italy, and it was exactly what we wanted: cheap, clean, and quiet. The room was a very good size, and the breakfast, in the very pleasant garden, was as good as I have had in Italy. We were able to leave our luggage for most of the next day, and the friendly owner gave us a key with which to let ourselves in. One irritation was the insistence on cash payment, despite a notice in reception saying that credit cards are accepted. The main thing to bear in the mind when booking this place is the location: it is one of Rome's least interesting districts (and the B&B itself is difficult to find - a small plaque in a residential doorway). We have been to Rome many times and so had no intention of sightseeing, but if you are then you would be better off looking to stay more centrally. The Metro (which is of limited use anyway to sightseers in Rome) is a couple of minutes away, and the Colosseum is walkable (20 mins at least), but there are very few good restaurants or bars around. Nevertheless, it offers very good value.