Casa San Domenico

We had a one bedroom apartment, called “Arpie”. The bed was comfortable, the bedroom was a reasonably good size and the en-suite bathroom clean and spacious to the point of grand. The separate living accommodation was very spacious and comfortable and the kitchen had most of the necessary appliances. We loved that the bedroom was in a quiet position, not overlooking a thoroughfare, although Mantova did not seem to be a particularly noisy city anyway. The designated host was very friendly and helpful but he is not the owner. Only after establishing contact with this employee did our stay go smoothly.

Foreign travellers need to understand that things are different in Italian accommodation and apply flexibility accordingly. However, there is a reciprocal need for Italian hosts who want to exploit an international market to understand that they will benefit from understanding their guests too. My four requests for confirmation of parking, in Italian, via 3 different mediums were ignored and I eventually had to contact Booking.com to intervene. Only that elicited a response. It seems that the owner/host has an unconnected job and runs the accommodation as a sideline, which is not a good attitude. The one bedroom apartment - indeed all of the units - are reached only by stairs. In the case of our apartment, very many stairs. This accommodation is not for anyone with mobility or laziness issues. The a/c was not working. That didn’t affect us in September, but open windows for fresh air let in mosquitoes because some of the nets are broken and damaged (undoubtedly by careless guests but they should be fixed). The apartment is comprised of two separate units, one for sleeping and bathing, the other for living and each must be locked independently because they are bisected by a corridor open to other guests. It’s quirky, not a deal breaker. The kitchen is small, very Italian and home market guests will find it normal. There’s no tea/coffee machine, it’s one small Bialetti pot. I don’t want to nit-pick through the small niggles which don’t correspond to the claimed facilities. It’s still a good place to stay and very good value. We would return now we are armed with preparatory information.

Perfect location

Einfach alles. Traumhafte Unterkunft im alten Stil.

Das wir sie nicht schon früher gefunden haben

Schlüsselübergabe und Einweisung war sehr gut - es wurde sich sehr bemüht alles gut zu regeln. Sehr gefallen hat das separate Schlafzimmer und das Bett, dass sehr bequem war.

Das Wohnzimmer/Küche ist qua Ausstattung und Standard deutlich unter unseren Erwartungen; Z.B. die Front der Abzugshaube fehlte komplett und das Sofa war vollkommen durchgesessen - im Badezimmer fehlten entsprechende Vorrichtungen feuchte Badetücher aufzuhängen. Wenngleich das Schlafzimmer sehr gut war, erfolgt der Zugang über eine sehr enge Wendeltreppe - zu eng und steil zum Hochtragen des Gepäcks.