Cancello - Rome

Accommodates 2 — 1 Bedroom — 1 Bath

We ourselves stayed in our Cancello apartment in September 2002 for two weeks. We could have stayed for a lifetime. Also, my late companion Tom Lalor stayed here often on his own for a month at a time in June for four years running while he studied Italian. It is a delightful place in every way.

The location just can’t be beat: a 3-minute walk to either Piazza Navona or the Pantheon, plus the little open-air market at Piazza delle Coppelle and a supermarket just around the corner in Piazza Nicosia. To us, this is Rome’s most characteristic neighborhood, full of little shops and trattorie and indeed some of the city’s most elegant restaurants. The Via dei Coronari, famous for antiques, is steps away.

Is the apartment noisy? I am a noise fanatic, and it didn’t bother me. But there are pedestrians and mopeds and street life. Our apartment is on the ground and first floors, and one has the sense of living amidst everything. I was entirely seduced. After 8pm or so, noise is at a minimum, and I succeeded in sleeping with windows open.

The Cancello apartment is a duplex. You enter from the street – through a double set of doors with good security – into a gracious living/dining room with kitchenette separated by a counter from the rest of the room. The kitchen is very well equipped. The fact that the owner lives in the flat during the winter is reflected by little personal touches throughout. This couldn’t have been furnished for rental. Ceilings are beamed, and the feeling throughout is Old Rome.

A narrowish set of stairs leads directly up into the bedroom with two windows overloooking the lane. The bed is extremely comfortable, firm but not a marble slab. It’s 57 inches wide, thus a bit narrower than an American queen-size and wider than an American double. I slept with another person with no difficulty. This room also contains a desk and chair, as well as a somewhat old-fashioned air-conditioning unit that does work with patience. A computer can be hooked up with the right wiring, not difficult even for me to accomplish.

I came away from the Cancello apartment with a renewed enthusiasm. It is one of our best offerings right in the heart of my favorite part of the Eternal City.