Italy: Bed and Breakfast Smallville (Rome, near airport)

On our last night in Italy, we stayed at Bed and Breakfast Smallville near the airport in Rome.  This was the largest room we had our entire stay. It was up a few flights of steps, but not too bad compared to some of the other places we had stayed. There was no elevator, but our hostess Daniela helped us carry our bags up to our room.  And then she gave a thorough tour of the space, including how to use the light in the hall upon late night entry. 

Daniela has a real gift for hospitality and paying attention to the little things that make a difference. This was the first place where we stayed where we were shown how to use the air conditioning unit.  Two pillows were also supplied on the bed for each guest (as Italian pillows are thin compared to U.S. American pillows).  The room decorations were especially welcoming to English speakers, including signs in English, and images of London, New York, and Rome on the wall. There was even a First Aid Kit and cloth washing machine that doubled as a counter in the bathroom! We were also pleased to find copies of menus from local restaurants. And surprisingly there was a large screen television - which is unusual to find in Rome.

The furnishings in the room were gorgeous. At the time of my writing this post the furnishings also looked fairly new. Large draping curtains graced the windows, which also had external blinds. And the place was very clean!

The bed was quite comfortable as well, with bedside tables on each side. It was well set-up for a couple to stay here together.  

In the morning, Daniela brought us breakfast and placed it on the table in the private breakfast nook in our private apartment.  She was respectful of my husband's lactose intolerance and provided several options.  We were served coffee, hot water with a tea selection, milk for the coffee (if desired), red orange juice (popular in Italy) and a variety of individually packaged pastries with appropriate spreadable toppings, including the famous Nutella.

Daniela and her husband Francesco were also more than willing to help us with transportation anywhere we needed to go.  They had offered to provide us a ride to a restaurant the evening we arrived, but we declined.  We did go to La Locanda, and enjoyed our meal there. You can read more about that experience on my La Locanda blog post.

The cost of the room was far less than the quality of our experience there. We paid 52 euro including the city traveler's tax.  This was a last minute reservation as our plans had changed and so it was nice to find an inexpensive place near the airport. I think they could easily charge 72 euro for the room.  If I could change one thing about our stay at Smallville, I would request larger bath towels and of course the request we have for all housing arrangements in Italy - washcloths. You can see more about this on my post about Italian bathrooms.

TIP: If you plan to stay at B & B Smallville and plan to come directly from the airport, my husband and I highly recommend using Uber for your transportation.  Unless we were willing to pay a high fee, none of the taxis were willing to take us from the airport to the Bed and Breakfast because it was too close. The drivers at the airport of course would also be expensive.  Uber was just 21 euros!