Le Violette

We arrived to find the staff had already finished for the day, but they kindly came back to help us. It was a real relief for our exhausted family. The location made getting around easy, with the main sights all within walking distance. Inside, everything was simple, bright and spotless, and the mattress was especially soft and comfortable. Breakfast was served with care as well. We had a fantastic stay and would definitely return if we get the chance.

The old historic centre is a great location, and the staff were friendly. Our first two nights were restful, but on the last night other guests arrived noisily at 12.30am and wandered the corridors for part of the night, so I was woken up. It’s a much better stay if fellow guests are quiet and check in before midnight. The rooms and service also felt a bit expensive for what you get. There’s potential here, though: a few more than 3 hangers and a small place to store clothes would help, as would bars in the bathroom for drying towels. The shower was only lukewarm.

For 75 euros a night, this place was too much for us. We’ve paid within 5-10 euros of that for places such as Hotel Sienna in Verona, B&B Hotel in Como, and Best Western Hotel Regina Elena in Santa Margherita during the previous 2 weeks of our tour. I’d be thrilled to pay 35-40 euros here, but at this price I’d look elsewhere. We booked 2 nights, and check in was awkward. The room we got didn’t have the in room bath advertised for the one I reserved, but Claudio, a kind man, changed it for us. The rooms were clean and the bed was generally comfortable, though furnishings were aged and sparse but adequate. Several things in the shower and bath were broken, and the walls are thin. It felt more like a hostel than a hotel or B&B. I often stay in hostels when travelling alone to save money and enjoy them, but with my GF we prefer a slightly higher standard. European 2-3 star places are fine for us, and this didn’t match the standard of our other stays.

The shared cooking area and location are handy, and for the price you can’t complain too much. But the room door doesn’t have a key, so we had to take valuables whenever we went out. The AC remote was poorly taped together and didn’t work, and the second bed was quite hard on your back. Check in was the bigger headache. At 10 in the evening, the owner sent us to the train station, then told us to follow walls and signs on a five minute walk. It was dark and we couldn’t see anything, so we ended up driving to the place and parking there. At the main door we were told to wait while it was opened remotely, which took about 10 minutes and 2 calls back and forth. The key inside the apartment wasn’t too hard to find, it’s behind the Violetta sign, but the directions about where the keys were hidden confused us. Some rooms also hear noise from nearby restaurants until midnight, which the owner can’t do much about.