DK Travel : Rome

Although functioning as a vibrant, modern capital akin to any in Europe, the unique appeal of Rome is that the entire city is a vast, 3,000-year-old, indoor-outdoor museum. In every quarter you’ll find ancient monuments, art treasures and timeless architecture in churches, galleries and protected ruins. Home to the world’s smallest city, the Vatican, Rome has religion at its heart and history in its soul – a city that dazzles and inspires visitors time and time again.

Bernini Bristol

This unprepossessing brick building faces Bernini’s Triton fountain (see Piazza Barberini). The decor is also uninspiring, but this marble-laden hotel is comfortable and has secretarial and other facilities. There’s a roof garden, and top rooms have fine views.
Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne

Rarely has marble captured flowing, almost liquid movement so gracefully. Bernini freezes time, wind-blown hair and cloak, in the instant the fleeing nymph is wrapped in bark and leaves, transformed into a laurel by her sympathetic river god father.
Bernini’s Ecstasy of St Teresa

The saint here is being pierced by a smirking angel’s lance, and is Bernini at his theatrical best. He sets this religious ecstasy on a stage flanked by opera boxes from which members of the commissioning Cornaro family look on (see Santa Maria della Vittoria).
Bernini’s Elephant Obelisk

An example of Bernini’s fun-loving side. This baby elephant, carved to the master’s designs by Ercole Ferrata in 1667, carries a miniature 6th-century BC Egyptian obelisk on its back. It is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Carthaginian leader Hannibal’s war elephants, which carried tall siege towers across the Alps to attack the Roman Empire in 218 BC.
Best B&B

http://www.bestbb.it/index.htm#

I stayed at this amazing little B&B in Rome last year. There are now two sites in the city, I stayed in the one just five minutes from the Vatican. From the outside and communal areas it looks like any large Italian apartment building with a central well and old fashioned lift. Once you step through the front door however, you enter a world of minimalist calm very unlike the average B&B. This is like staying in a hotel but without the steep prices. Clean, bright, comfortable rooms with smart bathrooms made a relaxing break from the traffic noise and tourists. An absolutely huge breakfast sets you up for the day and prepares you for the long queue to get into the Vatican. Thoroughly recommended.
Big Hilda Café

A welcoming joint offering rock ‘n’ roll, cheap drinks and a range of sandwiches and salads.
Big Mama

Trastevere’s historic jazz, blues, rhythm and blues and world music standby, with different acts performing every night. Membership is by the month or year, but unfortunately Friday and Saturday night concerts are open only to those with annual memberships.
Big Mama

Rome’s real house of blues, where the big names book and the smaller acts gig. Only open for live performances.
Bioparco (Zoo)

Rome’s zoo, once a depressing conglomeration of badly kept cement cubicles, has been overhauled to become a pretty (if relatively minor) “biological garden” set into a corner of Villa Borghese park.
Birreria della Scala

You may find the ever popular della Scala playing the role of beer hall or incarnated as a late-night restaurant, depending on the mood. Live music some evenings.

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Hotel price categories

For a standard, double room per night (with breakfast if included), taxes and extra charges.
- under €100
- €100-150
- €150-250
- €250-350
- over €350