It started badly enough, and it just got worse by the day. First, the instructions to get to the place was not THAT accurate. There were 2 trams, yes, and the instructions on the website said to get off at the 10th stop, but didn't specify whether it was the 10th when taking no.5 or the no.14 (the indications on the Termini station showed different stops for each along the Via Prenestina, the 10th stop of one was not exactly the 10th stop of the other!), i tried calling the B&B with my mobile phone, got no answer, tried a phone in one of booths in the station, got no answer, and finally after about 15 min of calling from my mobile, had somebody on the line, but for all the trouble, it didn't help as he didn't seem to understand what i was asking.

Anyway, after some time, we got there. The location is not as close as it seems from Termini -- it's about 20 min ride but the trams are frequent. Then it is not really a B&B in the usual sense , it is an apartment unit where the family rents out rooms on a daily basis. There is no lift, so if you are with luggages or with an elderly companion, it is quite difficult. The area around is residential, and a large part of this is a community of immigrants. It is quite disconcerting at first to be walking along the main street with a lot of young men and elderly ones, Arabs, gypsies, South Asians, just hanging around and talking -- i have nothing against them of course, but it made me feel very much like an intruder into their little community.

Tanya gave quite an efficient introduction, and we felt quite at home right away. That is, before the small and increasingly annoying things happened. It was quite all right the first night, we were tired and we coudn't be bothered with the details of the room. The following day, we had wanted to leave our important documents and valuables in the supposed safe, but to our consternation, the darned thing needed batteries! She didn't bother to tell us, and where the hell would we find extra batteries just when we were ready to leave? Anyway, there was nobody around to ask -- and this was how it was going to be exactly for the next 4 days, or until almost right before we were to leave and had to pay. They play the disappearing act very well, except of course during payment time!

There was nobody to attend to our questions and problems which we started having-- we didn't even know on which door to knock, who we could call, at what time there would be somebody available, etc... the light in our bathroom would not turn on (it was supposed to be automatic), imagine having to shower in the dark -- and having nobody around to attend to it! Then the sink would not drain -- horrors! Still, nobody around. Linen was never changed in the 4 nights we were there. And the darn huge decorative jar with ancient plastic flowers in them by our window was sooo unimaginably dusty and dirty, though we did not notice this at first. imagine how it was when we opened the window, and a small breeze came in -- it just blew dust clouds all over our beds, and the floor -- and since we could find no proper broom and cleaning things, it stayed like that the entire time!



on our 3rd day, around 6 am, when it was still pretty dark, the doorbell rang, and it rang for almost 3 quarters of an hour incessantly -- it was impossible to go back to sleep! finally, somebody answered, and we heard noises, it seems a family had arrived in an early flight, and had to go straight to the house. they were just in the narrow corridor chatting with one of the owners (the guy). but imagine the inconvenience to all other guests in the house with the crazy ringing. by that time, we had wanted to talk to somebody about the problems in our bathroom, but the guy after some time just disappeared, not even bothering to acknowledge us, or ask if everything was ok.

on our last night, i was given wrong info even regarding the travel time of the Leonardo express, and the price (i couldn't get the info myself as the codes they gave me for wireless internet did not work) -- but of course i found that out only the next day on our way to the airport. then instead of a proper receipt, i was given a stub of paper with a number printed on it to serve as receipt, nothing with even a semblance of something official. it was obviously a useless scrap of paper.

as if all these inconveniences were not enough, when i got home, i realised i had lost my micro SD. it could only have been lost in the room we stayed in, as on our last day, i had opened my mobile phone to take out the batter as it had gone dead. i had not opened my phone for ages, and neither after that. in any case, i wrote an email, called them (the sister who answered did not speak english, so it was impossible to make her understand), nothing. i called again the following day, and somehow got my message across, and was told, no they did not find anything. hard to believe. so anyway, i lost all my data, and photos, video and music, and i'm not even sure if they knew what i was talking about. and anyhow they didn't seem to be the kind to be bothered about their guests.

the size of the room itself was ok. but the bathroom was tiny, and quite disgusting, it is old and the tiles badly need to be changed, water from the shower would inadvertently flow out to the floor as the curtain does not fit properly, there is no place to put soap and shampoo in, etc etc. the wardrobe is utterly useless -- it is small, and already half of the space goes to extra linen or duvet which they keep there. so the entire time, i didn't even bother to take out my clothes from my luggage!

the breakfast is horrible -- the quality is like a third rate hostel's. on our first morning, we could not even have coffee -- the darn thing needed something (we couldn't understand the italian instruction) and nobody was there to attend to it. the bread is this small white loaf, which were not replaced on the entire time we were there (nobody except us touched it, it seems) -- on our last morning, the slices crumbled in our fingers when we attempted to take some out -- ridiculous! there were small cakes and cookies, all of bad quality -- the cheapest kind there is. at least the milk looked like milk, and there was small packed juice. yes, you wouldn't go hungry, indeed -- these were stuff that could fill a stomach. but just that.

overall, a very bad stay -- if i could give just one-half point, i would, but TA does not give that option! the one point would be for the quiet street (though we were facing the street, this did not pose a problem), the good-sized fridge, and an aircon that was working and quiet.

not recommended at all!!!