The room was very very (etc.) noisy because the rooms facing an interior courtyard or to the railway station! Mantova is beautiful, but please choose another hotel to get there!

We booked one night in this hotel through Expedia for $98.96 (USD). This hotel is very convenient for rail travel, right across from the train station.

The hotel was quite busy and understaffed and one of those places that seem clean on first viewing, but then look closer and eewwww......

The front desk was a mess, with the same staff appearing to work super long hours. They were too overwhelmed to offer us any assistance, and frankly we were nervous leaving our passports with them.

They did have a nice coffee with breakfast, and the people watching was fun (it seems athletic groups such as bikers and rowing teams stay here en masse.)

Oh, and the room was filled with signage, including a hilarious one in the bathroom instructing us how to flush a number 1 and number 2. No joke! There were illustrations!

Very ugly hotel rooms, everything cheap and horrible and rundown, institutional furniture from the 80s at best, terrible acoustics - is the sort of hotel that will actually provide rooms to a busload of second graders, so you can imagine what sort of standards they have overall. To say it was intolerable for everyone else is an understatement. No good restaurants nearby, nor grocery stores. Not near the part of the city you'd want to see. I can usually find something to commend a hotel - in this case, it's that you can get free all you can use internet access. But that's it. And actually, in Mantua, that's nothing to sneeze at. You're not going to find internet cafes etc. all over. The whole city is depressingly decayed and ugly - I was there on business but would advise tourists to give it a miss.

Most of the rooms face a seemingly very quiet L shaped inner courtyard (with table and chairs). The problem is there is a 24 hour bar connected to that courtyard, and you are right across from the train station. A group of very loud guests kept me up late that night, until the night staff finally ordered them to quiet down.

The next morning Christina, the manager, graciously moved me to an annex a few buildings down, and my second night was tranquil. It would be a good idea to ask for the annex.

Otherwise, both my rooms were very spacious and comfortable, with good beds. However, they were painted white, with almost no style or character. The hotel gives no impression of being a renaissance building. The bath and aircon (preset - the control is only on and off), were fine. The buffet breakfast is excellent.

The location, directly across the street from the station, is okay. It is about a 10-15 minute walk (not particularly nice) to the edge of the old city.

I checked out the rooms in the Hotel Italia for my next visit, and it would be a much better choice (right near the edge of the old city - by the beginning of the promenade - about 10 minutes back to the train station).

Mantova is a beautiful city, but it could actually be done in a day trip. The city is completely cut off from the lakes, so it does not have the atmosphere of a Locarno or Como. You have to walk outside the outer ring of buildings, and cross a major road (no lights - just go for it), to reach the park and lakes which encircle the city.

However, if you have a couple of days to spare, the old city if fun to explore, with great cafes and restaurants.