Two hills, two gardens, and in both cases a walk downhill to dinner and a climb back. Hotel San Anselmo if you want a 34-room villa on a silent Aventine square, breakfast among fan palms and a rate from about 95 euros; Donna Camilla Savelli if you would rather have Borromini's unfinished facade, a cloister and ninety-four rooms six minutes above Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, with the bars staying down the hill.
A family-run villa on a quiet Aventine square where every room is decorated differently and a double books from about EUR 95 a night in January on the hotel's own site.
€From about €95 a night
Choose Hotel San Anselmo if
Couples
Second Rome trip
Quiet sleepers
Garden breakfasts
Walkers
The catch
The rooms are small and the hotel publishes the figures itself: Economy 14 square metres, Double Budget 15, Twin and Double 16, Deluxe 20. Book on the square metres, not on the category name.
Ninety-four rooms in the monastery Borromini began in 1642 for Camilla Virginia Savelli, entered through his own unfinished facade, with the first and second floor cells re-adapted as the Deluxe rooms.
€€From about €220 a night
Choose Donna Camilla Savelli if
Baroque architecture
Quiet in Trastevere
Second Rome trip
Garden breakfasts
Longer stays
The catch
The hotel's own rooms page says room assignment is random in the Executive, Deluxe and Chiostro Prestige categories, which is the middle of the ladder. The room in the photographs is not the room you are promised.
Two hills, two gardens, and in both cases a walk downhill to dinner and a climb back. Hotel San Anselmo if you want a 34-room villa on a silent Aventine square, breakfast among fan palms and a rate from about 95 euros; Donna Camilla Savelli if you would rather have Borromini's unfinished facade, a cloister and ninety-four rooms six minutes above Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, with the bars staying down the hill.
Good questions about Hotel San Anselmo vs Donna Camilla Savelli
Hotel San Anselmo or Donna Camilla Savelli?
Two hills, two gardens, and in both cases a walk downhill to dinner and a climb back. Hotel San Anselmo if you want a 34-room villa on a silent Aventine square, breakfast among fan palms and a rate from about 95 euros; Donna Camilla Savelli if you would rather have Borromini's unfinished facade, a cloister and ninety-four rooms six minutes above Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, with the bars staying down the hill.
Is Hotel San Anselmo worth it?
Book it for the Aventine and the villa, not for facilities it does not have. A themed Double with a balcony, breakfast in the garden and dinner walked down to Testaccio, at a rate that leaves the money for the city. Check the square metres and the room number first. Thirty-four rooms in a family-run villa where the decoration is the whole proposition and the facilities list is almost empty: no restaurant, no pool, no spa, a garden and a bar. You are paying for the Aventine and the rooms, and eating in the city every night.
Does Hotel San Anselmo have a pool or a beach?
There is no pool. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.
Is Donna Camilla Savelli worth it?
Book it for the building: the monastery Borromini began in 1642, its facade, cloister and garden still there and the church still working next door, at four-star money in a city that charges far more for far less. Take a Deluxe Room, the one category the hotel itself says was converted from the cells, ask for the garden side, and eat in Trastevere. The case rests entirely on the building: a 1642 convent with its cloister, citrus garden, stone staircase and church still standing, kept quiet behind a wall on the Gianicolo slope. It is far bigger than the rest of this edit at ninety-four rooms, and far cheaper, and there is no spa, no pool and no gym to spend the difference on.
Does Donna Camilla Savelli have a pool or a beach?
There is no pool. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.
The smart money