A B&B seven minutes from Battistini metro

The line starts here, so you get a seat

Battistini is the western terminus of line A. Trains are made up here and leave empty, which is a small thing that changes a holiday: at eight in the morning, when the same carriage is packed solid four stops later, you are sitting down with your bag on your knees. Coming back at night, you cannot miss your stop — it is the last one, everyone gets off.

What you reach without changing

These are door-to-door times, walking included, not optimistic estimates: the Vatican Museums in sixteen minutes, Piazza di Spagna in twenty-four, Roma Termini in thirty-one. Line A also puts you within reach of Piazza Barberini, the Trevi Fountain and San Giovanni in Laterano, all on the same train. For the Colosseum, it is one change at Termini onto line B. Tickets are the same city tickets you would buy anywhere in Rome, and the station has machines and a tobacconist nearby.

The walk between the house and the station

Seven minutes, on pavements, through a residential area with shops and bars on the way. It is a walk you will do several times a day and it never feels like a chore: no dual carriageway to cross, no stretch without street lighting. The house is on Via Adriano I, a side street that sees very little traffic, which is also why the rooms are quiet at night.

The neighbourhood around the station

The area is called Aurelio-Boccea. Via di Boccea, a little over half a kilometre away, is where the shops, bars and supermarkets are concentrated. Eden Park is five minutes on foot, and there are bakeries that open early, and cafés where you can have a proper Italian breakfast standing at the counter for a couple of euros. It is not a postcard, and that is the point: it is where people actually live, ten minutes from the Vatican.

If you are driving as well

Street parking in the area is free and usually available right outside the house, which in Rome is worth saying out loud. That makes this a practical base if you are combining the city with day trips — the airport is twenty-eight minutes away by car, and you can leave the car parked for the days you use the metro instead.

Coming back late

The last trains on line A run until around half past eleven, and later on Friday and Saturday nights. If you come back after that, or after a late dinner in the centre, a taxi from the historic centre takes about twenty-five minutes. Whatever time you arrive, you can let yourself in: there is no reception to wake up, and no curfew.

The rooms

Two rooms, both with private bathrooms and space for up to three people. La Tosca has a private patio opening onto the garden; Turandot has a work corner and the calmer light of the two. Air conditioning, Wi-Fi, television and a fridge in both. Ylenia meets every guest in person and will tell you which bakery to go to.

The questions people actually ask

Frequently asked questions

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