a nice, comfortable hotel. No excess luxuries but all that you would want during a short stay. Room was well kept and service friendly. Perfect location next to historic center of Milan, 10 mins.walk to the Duomo and all the sights at walking distance. Cold buffet breakfast was ok, but is missing salty bits (only cheese, all the rest was of the sweet side).

We stayed four nights at the Hotel Carrobbio in MIlan in July 2010. The hotel is OK, but do not expect it to fulfil any four-star requirements ! The staff is friendly, except two of the guys in reception, who really have an attitude problem ! They are not directly rude, but let you know that nothing you ask for will ever be possible and that tourists are anyway ruining their day. The breakfast was not very varied, as the same bread and the same cakes were put on display each morning. As Italians are usually not having much of a breakfast, this is probably understandable. The hotel itself has both old rooms and at least one renovated room, which we luckily got after two nights, when the reception suddenly informed us that we are to change rooms. Some of the attitude may be explained by the fact that the staff do not speak English very well, but on the other hand, in other places we received very good service from people who spoke no English at all ! Cannot recommend this hotel !

We found the Corrobbio hotel to be in a great location, easy walking distance to some fantastic sights. The hotel is comfortable and clean, but very worn. The lift was unreliable, airconditioning didn't work properly and our room was musty. It doesn't feel like a 4 star hotel which is what it is rated, although we havent stayed anywhere else in Milan to compare. Was an OK price for what we got.

Some would say location is everything - and Carrobbio has that. Located at the junction of three major tram lines, it's easy to get every in Milan - and quickly. The street it's on is one of the oldest in Milan, so just walking in the neighborhood north of the hotel brings you to incredible sights of Roman ruins, if you look closely, as well as some astonishing homes and courtyards. Just south of the hotel are more ancient Roman ruins,including an arch and the magnificent complex of San Lorenzo. The Duomo and La Scala are definitely within walking distance (10 minutes max, and I'm not quick). Some people say it's right on a major street, but actually it's tucked just a dozen yards or so onto a side street, which would make it hard to find if you were looking for a hotel on a main street. It's on de Medici.

There's a nice older gentleman who serves as bellhop/all round concierge and is ready to direct you about the hotel or give service at the bar, should you require. There's plenty to look at in the hotel, with a nice little garden and small bronzes and paintings about. There is a case with guide books for your perusal. There are several lobby seating areas, and the breakfast room is cozy and large enough not to feel crowded.

Some people have said the breakfast was only so-so, but Hotel Carrobbio must read TA, because we thought it was excellent. Now, I do have to say that we've only experienced four different European hotels, all in our budget range (around 100EU, one was higher) and only four breakfasts - this was the best. Unlimited espresso and not from a self-serve machine. At the regular buffet, the range of pastries was amazing, there was no way to sample them all while there. The fruit tarts were especially good. They also had a range of little sandwiches each day, and lots of good cheeses and both a fresh, soft Italian bread and a rustic whole grain bread to make your own sandwich. Of course there were croissants and chocolate croissants (and nutella and jam). The yogurt was of very good quality and the granola tasted like what I make at home - and there were other cereals too. That's what came with the room (for 100EU), you could, if you wished, also order omelettes, scrambled eggs and fried eggs for an extra charge. No other hotel had anything like this. Three kinds of juice, etc.

The lift worked well, our room was toward the street. We could have had a different room if we wished to wait to check in, but we had been in transit for 22 hours, so we opted for the street side room. I had read here that it was noisy. I'm a light sleeper - I find every room noisy, so I always sleep with earplugs. It's true you could hear the tram roll down the street nearby - but by midnight, the tram intervals were very infrequent and with the double-paned windows closed, we really couldn't hear it.

The room was exceptionally clean and liked the decor a lot. We had fully opening windows with a teensy balcony that at least allowed us to hang our heads out and watch passers by on the nearby shopping street. Carrobbio is located in the heart of Milanese shoe store district, and west of the hotel begins a more residential area with a long shopping street that is much less upscale than downtown, a good place for bargains, lots of locals shopping.

There's a grocery store half a block away, the room had a refrigerator. The flat screen TV was the best we've seen in a European hotel. The restaurant next door (Pane &Vita) turned out to be a lovely surprise and not very expensive.

We found ourselves walking to the Castello and other places, simply due to the charm of the neighborhood, a statue there, a roman ruin here, so much to see - and very close to Santa Maria delle Grazie by a simple walk (again, about 10 minutes and that was with taking lots of snapshots), as we were lucky enough to go to Il Cenacolo two times - once pretty early in the morning.

Some have said the hotel staff is unhelpful, or do not understand English, but we found our combination of tourist Italian and their English more than sufficient to get by. There is one guy who is, I guess, a bit "snooty," but we liked him and he was friendly to us after a day or so, he just has an interesting personality and wants command of his front desk staff, which is helpful in running a hotel. Everyone at the front desk remembered us, gave us our key instantly, and were very friendly.

The building itself is in fine shape, great carpets, trinkets and decor. They do allow pets, if that's an issue, and they have high speed internet, but it's not free. It's 10Eu extra, which made sense to me. There is no restaurant right in the hotel, but there is one practically adjacent, so I said "yes" to the restaurant box.

It's true that the air conditioning wasn't functioning (it was actually rather on the cool side when we were there, so perhaps they had turned it off). The in-room safe also did not function. The young bellhop sent to investigate discovered it was a dead battery, but no attempt was made to replace the battery. We used the hotel front desk safe, therefore (although we were teased about it a little).