After making countless trips to Italy, almost 2-3 times a year, and posting more than 350 reviews for Tripadvisor, I can safely say that I rarely post poor reviews for a Hotel where we have meticulously picked. Giving this ancient Palazzo a 3 stars out of a 5 does not mean that we have had a poor stay, in fact, it was a fine stay. Do read on ...
Let's be frank, Spoleto isn't one of the top Umbrian cities to visit ... with only probably 3 main sights to see (the Rocca, the Duomo and the Aqueduct). But strangely enough, there are many good and quite luxurious hotel to choose from. But after reading reviews and studying their respective locations, I had picked the Dragoni for its location (promixity to the 3 main sights), views and charm. In this regard, we cannot say we were disappointed as while exploring Spoleto, the other more luxurious hotels (and certainly, more expensive, too) which we had once considered were located in a somewhat less than ideal location as compared to the Dragoni.
Our chosen Junior suite room 10 was spacious, with a separated walk-in and sitting area (no separating doors, though). The room was charming, bright and offers great Umbrian views from 3 tall French doors. Bathroom was long and bright, quite spacious with a huge shower cubicle. From what we have read, this was the 2nd most popular room after room 8.
During the day, there was very slight grass cutting and construction noises from nearby buildings, but was dead quiet at night, so we slept well. Bed was a little sagged but comfy enough, TV has some English channels, Wifi was free and easy to use.
But why then the lower ratings? Well, you cannot help but feel that the whole Palazzo, be it the common areas or the room itself, is not very clean and not very well maintained. I would not say that it is in a very poor state, I would only say that the Palazzo had seen better days.
Whenever we are in Italy, I would race to stay in ancient Palazzos, loving their classical decor and ancient ambiance. No doubt you will get this here since the Palazzo was once restored to its former glory, however, you cannot help but to notice blown bulbs, cracked bathroom floor tiles, insufficient & old room lightings, wear and tear at some places.
Billed as a 4 star, we thought, it had felt more like a 3 star. There was no slippers in the room, so we had to walk on somewhat 'dirty carpets', there were very limited toiletries with wet tissues being there for ages and totally dried up, no spare blankets nor pillows in the closet etc.
And to make matters worse, the much touted Breakfast, though held in a charming enclosed Loggia area, was a real let down. Had read somewhere that the owners were former bakers and from past pictures on this website, I was telling my husband, ' get ready for some nice cakes & pastries'. Served from 8am the next morning, we only found a hard like rock bread (inedible to us) and a freshly, oh-so-fragrant Orange sponge cake. No pastires or other ready-made cakes were available to us ... utterly disappointing, to say the least.
The true redeeming factors of this Palazzo has to be Roberto, who is nice and helpful, albeit a little withdrawn maybe due to the language gap, and his ever smiling wife who serves breakfasts in the mornings. If not for the fact that Roberto still remembers that I had earlier during my booking, requested for a fan to be placed in the room, I would have given this Palazzo an even poorer rating.
Like I had said from the beginning, it was a fine stay. I would not discourage you to stay here if you are like us, going for its location, views and charm - you will almost certainly not be disappointed if you are going after these factors.
But you will be disappointed, if expecting bits of some 4 star luxury factor, then its a different story altogether. As a matter of fact, the Palazzo also never charges 4 star rates, we thought its rates are still quite reasonable for what it offers - location, views & charm.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
