Al Fagiano Hotel, Padova, Italy 13 Nov 2010 – 15 Nov 2010
In addition to cost, our two criteria for hotels are cleanliness and safe location. Al Fagiano met those two criteria. The lobby area is not inviting; the furniture is worn. The décor in the bedrooms is unusual to say the least. The so-called art work is bizarre. I call it freaky art or F-art. In my opinion, the F-art is not only ugly, it is big and ugly. If the piece over our bed ever fell, it would have killed us. The bathroom was a refuge from the bedroom. The bathroom was nice. There is not enough wine in Italy to ever allow me to come to terms with the décor. If one wanted to express oneself in the rooms, one could have done it on a small scale and not overwhelm the senses. I did like the location

This little hotel is decorated by the owner/manager with her quirky art. It is perfectly located a short walk from St Anthony's cathedral. It has a nice little breakfast area with the usual cereal and bread/rolls that are not included in the room rate. You may do better elsewhere but we liked the convenience. Safe gated parking was 10 euro. We visited the Scrovani Chapel in Padua; the art on the walls was beautiful and unbelievably fresh looking.

Just got back from Padua/Venice. The hotel is lovely, as are the staff, as is the location. A great base to explore Venice from and Padua is lovely also. The value is fantastic aswell compared to Venice. Would happily go back. Thank you.

This was one of many hotels we stayed in during our 3.5 weeks in Italy, and it was our least favorite.

The room was tiny, which was okay, but there was nothing comfortable in which to sit. They had a plastic chair near the desk, but it wouldn't fit under the desk because of the arms and took up more room than necessary. The bed was uncomfortable and hard, and the cover was quite worn. It was, however, relatively clean.

The staff, especially Alfred, was extremely nice and helpful. Prior to our leaving for Italy, Alfred even emailed me with information about another town we were visiting. We arrived before check-in, but the woman on the desk allowed us to store our luggage and explore until our room was ready.

I'm still trying to figure out the decor of the place. I think whoever painted and decorated it did so in his/her sleep while having a nightmare. I'm still trying to figure out why anyone thinks the crap hanging on the walls in the hall is "art" (and I use that term loosely).

Maybe I just don't appreciate the "quaintness" of the place, but the way it was painted (each floor is a different color - red, blue, orange, white) looked amateurish. We were on the blue floor, so imagine my surprise when I walked into the bathroom and saw red (BRIGHT RED) bathroom accents (toilet seat, stool, etc). Ugh,

The breakfast was not included, and we didn't partake since we didn't want to spend 6 euro each for it. Instead, we went to a pasticerria and got coffee and pastry for a total of 4 euro.

We asked for ice in the afternoon, and they told us that they had none in the hotel, even though there is a bar with drinks in the lobby. They told us to go to the restaurant across the street and ask for ice. What??? I know that Europeans don't use ice as Americans do, but come on. If you're going to have Americans in the hotel on a continuous basis as this one does (Rick Steves had two tour groups in the hotel while we were there and uses it a lot.), maybe they should invest in a small ice machine.

The wifi internet service is free, but you have to go to the lobby to use it.