Villa Duse

This is one of best places to stay in Rome. The staff is great, the breakfast delicious, rooms quiet and comfortable. We stayed on the ground floor and had a private patio. It is also within a 10 minute walk of the city centre. Also transit is very close, which can take you to the city centre and train stations. When we go back to Rome, we will be staying here!!!

Everything about this hotel is absolutely ideal and wonderful. Beautiful french style furnishings in our room with excellent bedding. We have a lovely patio outside our room. In the afternoon they have pastries, orange juice and persecco in a common sitting room. The staff is friendly and accommodating. Very lovely and romantic. I took one star off because it is outside the city center about a fifteen euro cab ride and there is a bus that runs into town. The can ride adds up.

Hotel Villa Duse
Via Alamanno Morelli, 100 197 Rome, Italy
06 8069 3239
We stayed at this small hotel for a week and enjoyed it tremendously. It is located on a quiet residential street about a 30 – 40 minute bus ride from Rome’s central train station. It is clean and beautifully furnished, and the staff is courteous and helpful. Not all speak English but we had no difficulty communicating. Breakfast Italiam style does not offer hot dishes, but instead cakes, quiche, yoghurt, hot drinks, juice, cereals, cold meat, cheese and more. Eggs and bacon may be ordered at extra cost.
Room appointments are top class. Our shower sported 10 different spray heads and two controls to turn various options on and off as well as control temperature and pressure. Entrance to rooms is by key card. The card is inserted in a slot in your room after entry. Without it, and somehow at night when all lights are off, the power goes off. This was a problem only when charging an iPad or iPhone while you are out of your room. The key system and an in-​room safe provided good security. We learned that if you try your key card at the wrong room it not only does not work, but calls a staff member who politely tells you that you are on the wrong floor.
Minibars, notorious for overcharging, were actually not bad here. Local beer was five euros, compared to 3.50−4.50 at bars located everywhere. Light food (colazioni) is available at the hotel at extra cost, but there is no full menu restaurant. We found excellent and reasonable restaurants within a mile’s walk. Ask at the desk for suggestions and directions. Try the Unilocal website for listings.
One way to get to the hotel is to take a No. 360 bus from in front of the main station, Terminii. It leaves from the curb, not from the many bus ranks in the plaza north of Terminii. From the front of Terminii walk to the left to the street, then north along the curb away from Terminii. Look for bus signs. There will be two listing bus 360. The first sign is for the southbound 360, which is not what you want. Ten more meters and you find another 360 sign with Muse shown as the destination. Ride it to the next to last stop, called Fermate Salvini. That stop is across the street from a small local bar on the corner. Hotel Villa Duse is on the side street behind the bar. Consider a taxi from Fiumicino If tired from a long flight. For two with luggage the cost is about 50 – 60 euros.
Rome is beautiful, historic and much too crowded. Hotel Villa Duse is a refuge of quiet and comfort. We would certainly go back.

While we only stayed a single night on the front end and back end of our trip to Italy, our experience at Villa Duse was fantastic with outstanding service and very comfortable accommodations.
Our trip started in a less than ideal fashion and we experienced several hiccups on our way to the hotel from the airport, but immediately upon arrival, the staff made us feel so welcome and even congratulated us on our anniversary. The whole experience felt so personal, and everyone continued to be so helpful throughout our short stay — in excellent English, even! We were lucky and got upgraded for both of our nights — the first night to a first floor room with an adorable patio and the second night to an upper level room with incredibly high ceilings. Both rooms were quite large by European standards with spacious bathrooms and relatively soft beds compared to the rock-​hard norm.
The location of this small boutique hotel may not be ideal for all tourists — it’s not walking distance to Roma Termini or to any major attraction or nightlife, but it was pure perfection by our standards. In a quiet, more residential part of town within short walking distance to several bus lines as well as a handful of less-​congested/​touristy dining areas. Villa Duse was without a doubt the highlight of our Rome experience. They graciously allowed us to leave our bags at the hotel for a short time on checkout so that we could do a small amount of sight-​seeing before we hopped a train to Florence in the afternoon, which we greatly appreciated!
The entrance to the small hotel lobby is through a grand gate that opens to a gorgeous courtyard complete with a water feature and several levels of terrace seating that I wish we had time to use. With the pleasant weather, it would have been a delightful place to enjoy a panini and bottle of wine while relaxing under the shade of the trees. Despite the terrace area being accessible from the main entry, there are half walls and enough foliage to make most of the seating areas semi-​private and perfect for such a romantic picnic!
I shouldn’t fail to mention the delicious breakfast, included with our room and served in the lower portion of the hotel below the entry level. Mellow tunes (both English and Italian) play over a small stereo near a buffet of pastries, tarts, meats, cheeses, a quiche, and several cereals. Coffee is served to order by the stealth waiter, and it’s nice to not have the constant frothing of milk disrupt your calm start to a busy Italian day. Both still and sparkling water are available as well as several types of juice. Never was it more crowded than a few couples, talking in muted voices about the plans for the day — maps in hand, of course :-)
A fantastic, relaxing hotel that starkly contrasts the congested, touristy, bustling city housing it.