Casa Howard Rome

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Central Rome, Italy

A pair of stylish 5-room guesthouses near the Spanish Steps, combining the comforts of home with the service of a top hotel

Recommended, awaiting i-escape review

OVERVIEW

Funky fabrics, fine furniture, fresh flowers... this is B&B, Howard fashion. Jenifer Howard-Forneris, a Roman-born Briton, is the designer eye behind Casa Howard, and her husband, Count Massimiliano Leonardi di Casalino, the business brain. Together they have created a pair of intimate guesthouses in the heart of Rome's hippest quarter - with a little help, it must be said, from Tommaso Ziffer, designer of the ultra-swanky Hotel de Russie a few blocks away. The result is a friendly yet hip pied-à-terre, an upmarket kind of 'at home in Rome', which attracts (mostly Anglophone) guests by word of mouth rather than advertising. And it's often fully booked, so it must be working.

One of its secrets is the magical combination of homely comforts (honesty bar, homemade jams, your own front door key) with a level of service that would credit a 4- or even 5-star hotel: laundry, masseurs, daily flowers, wi-fi ADSL lines, and a nothing-is-too-much-trouble housekeeper in each casa.

HIGHS

Within splashing distance of the Spanish Steps and fountains
Impeccable service from the housekeepers
Restaurant bookings, masseurs, baby-sitters, shopping guides, laundry, even Papal passes can be arranged
Eccentric modern design will appeal to the fashion set, esp. the Via Sistina house
Use of Turkish bath to restore flagging limbs, in via Capo le Case house
Special packages offered in combo with their sister hotel in Florence, 100 minutes away by train

LOWS

Some rooms are on the small side
3 out of 5 private bathrooms in Capo le Case are not en-suite (though kimonos and slippers soften your passage down the hall)
The hustle and bustle of the Spanish Steps can filter through

ROOMS

You've a choice - availability permitting - between the genteel, English-style décor of the original (late 2000) Capo le Case house (parquet floors, wooden beams, pastel wallpaper); or the more exotic air and funky fittings of the newer (Jan 2003) Via Sistina house, inspired by the owners' travels in the east, and by Ziffer's home in Paris. All the rooms are individually themed and colour-coded; regular guests say it's like staying in a different hotel each time.

In Capo le Case, we suggest you go for the more spacious Pink or Green rooms, with ensuite shower rooms, antique furniture and space for an extra bed. The other 3 rooms are on the 'cosy' side, and have outside (but not shared) bathrooms, one of which is a tiled Turkish hammam. You might feel a little self-conscious padding down the corridor in the silky Japanese kimonos and slippers (which they kindly provide).

In the Via Sistina house - a second-floor conversion - the décor is bolder and more design-led, though perhaps not to everyone's liking. The Flower Room swims with floral motifs on bedspread, cushions and padded walls alike; Zebra pits black-and-white fabrics against dark red floors and 1970's pop-furniture (but you can escape to the private balcony); American is more sedate with sleek black, taupe and red furnishings while Indian is full of colour; the smallest room, Tommy's, is a copy of the designer's Parisian apartment, with a pretty toile de Jouy canopied bed and chrome and mosaic bathroom. All the rooms at Via Sistina have en suite bathrooms with showers (the Zebra and American rooms also have a bathtub).

All have double beds - some kingsize, some queensize - and a few can take an extra single bed.

EATING

Like its guests, the (optional) CH breakfast is slim but perfectly formed. Daily-baked cake and hot cornetti (croissants Italian style), with jam and honey from the owner's farm in Tuscany, are washed down by freshly-squeezed orange juice and a selection of teas and coffees. There's no dining room, so it's brought to your bedroom on a tray, by the wonderful housekeepers.

For local refreshments, try nearby Caffe Greco, a favourite with Goethe in his day; or Babington's for a famously English-style tea; or Dal Bolognese for a Roman feast in the Piazza del Popolo. The housekeeper is happy to help out with elusive and exclusive dinner reservations.

ACTIVITIES

Flex the plastic along the chic boutiques of the Via dei Condotti and Via del Corso
Wander down to the astonishingly well-preserved rotunda of the 1st-century Pantheon
Cool your heels in the Barcaccia fountain just across the road
Visit the Keats / Shelley Memorial House, right opposite
Cross Bernini's angel-adorned bridge to reach Castel Sant Angelo, in its time a mausoleum, fortress, museum and setting for Puccini's Tosca
Recover with a hammam in the Capo le Case, or a gelato just about anywhere

FEATURES

Phone

Internet in Room

Heating

Air Conditioning

Extra Beds Available

Breakfast

Room Service

Turkish Bath

Internet Connection

Laundry Service

Airport Transfer

ACTIVITIES

	Historical Sites

	Museum / Galleries

	Shopping/Markets

Getting there

Name	Casa Howard Rome	Location	Spanish Steps, Rome
Type	Stylish Guesthouse: 10 rooms	Country	Italy
Price Guide	Dbl: €150-240 RO	Open	All year


DISTANCES	Airport: 20km	Nearest Shops: 0.1km	Nearest restaurant: 0.1km	Beach: 27km