Hotel Roma

Via Tempio della Fortuna, 54
00054 Fiumicino
3 stars
Tel: 06 65029681
http://en.venere.com/hotels_fiumicino/hotel_roma.html
www.hotel-roma.it

Very difficult to find (unless you follow this map)

From the street, the hotel isn't quite as daunting as this picture, and the suite pictured (which we stayed in) had a straight wall and stairs, not the lens distortion here. (This room is also pictured on the hotel website.)

This was a find straight off the Internet. We were arriving at Fiumicino Airport at 6:30 pm with 240 miles to go to our hotel in Positano. We didn't want to go into Rome (with our rental car) and back out; so we picked Hotel Roma, less than 2 miles from the airport. What a treat. For about $140 (2002) we had a suite with a balcony overlooking modest gardens with wonderful sea breezes. (In 2008 room prices have risen; now a room is $345, still a bargain (with an available shuttle from the airport). It's in the middle of a neighborhood of apartment houses, not industrial or retail. It was more than acceptable as a hotel, with a quaint bar, but its MAIN CLAIM TO FAME IS THE SECOND BEST MEAL WE HAD IN ALL OF ITALY during our 2002 trip. (The best was Don Alfonso in Sorrento, one of only 3 three-star Michelin restaurants in all of Italy, so that's pretty good company.)

If you are flying into Fiumicino on the way to Amalfi or somewhere other than Rome, do stay here. And be sure to book the main (Roma) restaurant for Chef Giorgio's superb cooking. Russ had mussels and clams (from an aquarium right next to his head), and Kaye had turbot. Both were superb. We plan to start all our Rome visits with at least a meal at the Hotel Roma. In 2004 we arrived the week that Giorgio had left for another hotel, but the food, based as it is on seafood fresh from the port 3 blocks away, was fantastic, again, and not crowded. It's primarily a hotel for Italian business travelers, not tourists.

WARNING: The venere.it and other websites can help you book, but don't count on either the emails or faxes. In 2004 a fax and 3 emails (one to the booking site) all went unanswered; so Russ had to telephone. Remember, it's wonderful in Italy, but it is Italy.

In May of 2007 the hotel's own website - the link is above - was under construction, giving promise that you can book directly through the hotel. But don't hesitate to call ANY of the hotels recommended. Just remember the magic words - Parle inglese? - and you'll do fine.

In March of 2008 the site was still under construction. Call.

It appears, too, that the hotel itself has undergone some renovation.

SHOPPING

Just drive into town to the hotel and back out to the autostrada or airport. This is not a shopping town (unless you're at the docks dickering for seafood, and what are you doing dickering for seafood when you're on vacation?).

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