Margutta - Rome

Accommodates 4-8 — 4 Bedrooms — 4 Baths — Terrace

Is there really a short-term holiday apartment rental in Rome good for 2 families travelling together? Finally, with Margutta, the answer is yes, definitely yes. In fact, Margutta is not an apartment. It’s an entire narrow attached villa, about 25 feet wide max, and six stories tall.

But before we go any further, let us say what Margutta is not. It is not a Roman vacation home for 3 or 4 couples. The bedrooms are too unequal. Rather, Margutta is a vacation rental in Rome suitable either for one or two couples, perhaps 5 adults, who want something really special. Or it’s for one or two families with up to 4 well-behaved children traveling together.

What’s not to like about the unbelievable location? 300 feet from the Spanish Steps (and its metro stop), yet secluded and relatively quiet. Cultural and artistic attractions within a short walk include the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Santa Maria del Popolo and its Caravaggios, and the Galleria Doria Pamphili. Up the Spanish Steps and you’re on the edge of the centro’s biggest park, the Villa Borghese. Transport by bus, taxi, or subway to all of Rome’s other sights is a moment away.

The neighborhood, lively but at the same time elegant, abounds in famous restaurants and trattorie, as well as historic caffes like the Caffé Greco, the caffé of the Hotel de Russie, and Babington’s.

In less than five minutes’ walk from our Margutta house, you'll find Rome’s most elegant shopping lanes. Via Margutta itself hosts numerous artists’ studios and antique shops. Around the corner in Via del Babuino are Tiffany, Chanel, Prada, and Tad. The Via Condotti and Piazza di Spagna are home to Bulgari, Cartier, Dior, Missoni, Valentino, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Armani, Ferragamo, Hausmann, and many, many others.

Margutta’s owners will arrange for you, upon request, the services of a personal shopper who herself comes from Roman high society and who knows the neighborhood’s best shops and boutiques inside and out.

Now let’s turn to the nuts and bolts of the Margutta house itself: It was once the vicarage of a neighboring convent. There are no other residents in the building: It’s all yours, and you immediately have that sense as you enter the building’s independent street entrance. This sense of exclusivity is unique in Rome, as far as we know.

A comfortable, easy old stone staircase winds its way up the building. This staircase and the small living spaces it encounters on its way upward are what makes the house so exceptionally inviting and unique.

From the entry hall, the first level up brings you to the first of the house’s two master bedrooms, with indivisible matrimonial bed, good lighting, and en-suite bath with a big American-style shower stall. This bedroom is air-conditioned, as are all the principal spaces in the house.

Up one level is a smaller bedroom (no A/C) with two good-quality bunk beds. This is the only bedroom in the place without its own bathroom en-suite: There is a bathroom with shower in the basement, below the entry hall; or, if the group is a family, the occupants of this bedroom can use the bathroom of either of the two master bedrooms.

The third floor is laid out the same as the first: a master bedroom with indivisible matrimonial bed and en-suite with shower over tub. Here also is the house’s clothes washer.

Upstairs, the next level houses the kitchen and dining room, the latter seating 6 comfortably and 8 tightly, around a handsome glass-topped table. It is particularly warm and welcoming, designed in good taste yet easy to clean. The brand-new kitchen is complete with big fridge, stovetop and oven, microwave, dishwasher, table- and cookware, and ample table linens.

Finally, the top level contains the heart of the house, the gracious living room filled with light from windows looking out over the street, as well as a third window looking out onto the terrace. Furnishings are stylish modern and comfortable, with antique decorative touches.

Rome’s mild-to-warm climate means that for much of the year, the living space is very effectively extended out onto the terrace where you can dine or have cocktails or breakfast looking out at neighboring rooftops and the beautiful facade of the Villa Medici, as well as some of the famous umbrella pines of Rome dotting the skyline of the Villa Borghese.

Accessed from the terrace is the fourth bedroom, with unifiable twin beds and its own small bath en-suite (sink with shower attachment only).

You can see why we say that Margutta is great for 2 couples or for one or two families.

Amenities: Phone, answering machine, DSL line, window screens, washing machine, dishwasher, microwave, satellite TV, hairdryers.

The atmosphere of Margutta is evocative and unique. The house is furnished comfortably with touches of elegance. The location is unbelievably central as well as convenient and quiet. Eating or lounging out on that terrace is a special experience. The “negatives” are: smallish rooms; relatively limited closet space; the stairs (but there they are).

You be the judge.

Rates:	One week
Mar 1-Jul 15; Sep 1-Oct 31; Dec 21-Jan 6	2,280 euros per week for up to 4 persons 2,720 euros per week for 5-6 persons 3,240 euros per week for 7-8 persons
Other periods	1,990 euros per week for up to 4 persons 2,350 euros per week for 5-6 persons 3,000 euros per week for 7-8 persons
Extras:	Gas and electricity as metered
Arrival:	Any day but Sunday
Minimum stay:	1 week, with extra days pro-rated