1.- Roma Pass: You might have already know about this one, but offers good value, so it’s worth mentioning: for 30 euros you get to use the public transportation sysem for 3 days and free entrance to the first 2 museums you visit. Besides, you get discounts on all the museums you visit after the first 2. You can find the Roma Pass in many Tabacchi shops and newsstands in the Termini station, where you will likely arrive from your airport.

2.- Book Vatican Museums in advance: The lenght of the queue to get into the museums is almost legendary among tourists, but you can easily avoid it if you book the entrance in advance.To do it go to this website http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do ; from there you can check availability and book your tickets.

3.-Atac website: Rome is not particularly easy to figure out, when it comes to transportation, but the things are slowly changing thanks to the internet. ATAC, the public transportation agency of the city has o neat website that allows you to check yhe best routes toget from one point of the city to another using the public transportation system. It also shows in real time how long will it take for a bus to arrive to a given stop,so it’s a great resource to check on your mobile.

4.- 060608: This is the Municipality of Rome’s official tourist information service. You can call them at (+39) 060608 to get general information about the city and even book museums. Even if the service has been around for a while, is not very well known but it’s really useful!

Our blogger today: Raul

This one is no secret, but many people don’t know about it. the Vaticam Museums, the most important museum in Rome and home of at least one absolute masterpice of our entire civilization (the Sixtine Chapel) can be visited for free the last sunday of every month.

Here you can check the official calendar; the days marked  green are for free. Note that on those days the museum is open from 9.00 AM until 14.00 PM with the entrance closing at 12.30.Sure, the queue tends to get kilometric but, hey: it’s part of the adventure. And if you want to have the ultimate catholic art experience you can attend the public blessing the pope gives (for free! that’s the key word here) every Sunday at noon at Saint Peter’s Square. And then you can visit San Peter’s Basilica (do I have to mention you don’t have to pay to get in?).

For those not lucky enough to be in Rome the last sunday of the month, or just not willing to wait to get in, my advice is to book your entrance in advance through the official website of the Vatican.You will pay an extra fee, but it will save you lots of time.

There you go: an incredible day at zero cost.
And again, if you need info for accomodation in Rome or anywhere else in Italy, contact our booking office. Or, if you only want to tell me about your catholic-action packed day, drop me a line.

Enjoy yourselves!

Our blogger today: Raul

In Rome, the place that is regarded as the best for espresso is Bar Sant’Eustachio. The place was opened in 1938 and it’s almost mythical among the horde of caffeine consumers in the capital. They have their own website where you can buy their celebrated blend to enjoy the best coffee in the eternal city even if you cannot come here personally!

But of course, there is nothing like the real deal: even if the place might seem hardly out of the ordinary from the outside, you cannot help but feel as if you are steping into a sort of temple when you walk into Sant’ Eustachio. The employees have a sacerdotal gravitas to them and clients are advised to let the personel known if they want their espresso without sugar, since you get your coffee with the right amount of sugar already on it- something not many cafes in the city do. Maybe it has to do with the fact that some suspect that the sugar is actually an important part of their secret!

Sant’Eustachio is located at Piazza Sant’Eustachio 32, near Navona square. If you are staying at Yes Hotel or Hotel Des Artistes, or anywhere near the Termini station you can take the bus 40 from the station to get there (get off at the station “Argentina”). Here you have a map showing the bus route and the part you would have to do walking from the bus stop.

Have a great vacation and do not hesitate to contact us for accomodation if you are staying in Rome!

Our Blogger today: Raul

A fantastic journey back in time that will engage and amaze every audience. The exhibition holds 51 robotic dinosaurs and 14 scenarios of natural size, which differs a lot compared to classical museums.

This unique experience will involve the whole family, parents and kids will live through the adventure and learn what our planet was like 60 million years ago.

Your appointment with the dinos is at the Fiera di Roma from November 18 to January 18, 2012. The Fiera can be easily reached from Rome using the train that goes from Tiburtina Station to the Fiumicino Airport (Stop “Fiera di Roma”)

To have the best vacation in Rome. check our rates at Hotel Des Artistes and Yes Hotel to find the most comfortable accomodation at the most affordable rates!

This garden is the perfect place to unwind after a day spent visiting the city, but also the place where you will see a door that hides the Piazza of the Knights of Malta, closed to the public, but you can see peering out of the lock …

Rome we know more or less. But not everyone knows that in addition to St. Peter, Coliseum, Castel Sant’Angelo, Piazza Navona and other famous monuments there are lesser-known small and great wonders that deserve our attention in the same way. Some tips to follow to not lose all that Rome did not want to, hide in the shadow of the greatest works

The Delicious square eighteenth century, the fence and the entrance to the villa of the Priory of Malta are the work of Giambattista Pirenesi, who also found the original of the keyhole of the door, through which, with a view to a tunnel formed by avenue of trees specially cut, you see the dome of St. Peter (beautiful view at night, when, on festive occasions, the giant dome is lit).

After a walk to the ‘Parco degli Aranci’ – the romantic garden in winter and summer – we suggest you peep this view at sunset, when the first light of evening light in color and brightness of the Roman countryside. So is the Parco degli Aranci that before you put the lock of the door of access to what is known as ‘Villa of the Priory of Malta’. ….. you’ll see something really nice! And not to forget!

This important building is the historic seat of the Grand Priory of Rome of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Has the right of extraterritoriality in 1869. It houses the embassies of the order, and to the Holy See and to the Italian. Inside the beautiful, lush garden is the Church of Santa Maria del Priorat, called ‘Santa Maria Aventina’, which was renovated by Giovanni Battista Piranesi in 1765 rearranged the main entrance of the Palace.

The view from this oasis of peace, unknown to many tourists, is wonderful and the pictures may not match reality.

It has a wide view, which stands er dome of St. Peter’s and other architectural wonders of Rome

Entertainment guaranteed.

If you stay with us at the Hotel des Artistes you can reach  this wonderful place in just 20 min!

Our blogger: Rhodora

Don’t forget: your best options to enjoy all the history and magic of the Eternal City are Hotel Des Artistes and Yes Hotel!

Well, these days are strange in Rome. With so many cancelled flights due to the cloud of volcanic ashes hanging over Europe, not everyone is paying attention to one of the most interesting cultural campaingns to take place each year in Italy: the Culture Week.

Like every year this 2010 many interesting activities will take place and besides many of the most famous monuments in Rome can be visited for free! Yes, from April 16 to 25 you will be able to visit the Roman Forum, the CoIosseum and many other great monuments for free, or almost: by instance, to visit the Capitoline museums you would pay only 4,50 Euros, since there is an additional axhibition taking place right now.

We have selected for you some of the most interesting options when it comes to activities. You will find our picks at the bottom of this page.

And don’t forget: your best options for accomodation in Rome are Hotel Des Artistes and Yes Hotel. Contact us today, or make a reservation through our website!

A couple of weeks ago, a client came to the reception desk asking for directions to Via Varese. This street is just two blocks from us.

Suddenly, I began to remember good memories from my childhood. My heroes and friends from that time came back to me in a flash of lively thought…
Like in the happiest party one could stage, all of them arrived at once. Just in time…          

So I welcomed Tweety, Sylvester, Duffy Duck, Speedy Gonzalez (who obviously arrived before the others) and the INEVITABLE Bugs bunny and his kind of friend, mean Mister Yosemite Sam.

The client I mentioned before was about to go to the Warner Brothers Office in Rome, located in Via Varese 16/B.

The Warner Bros company was founded in 1923 by brothers Harry (President), Albert, Sam and Jack.

In 1926, the studio produced the first film (Don Juan) by Alan Crosland. In 1927 came The Jazz Singer, by Crosland still with Al Jolson, which contains a sound sequence. This new technology enabled Warner to obtain a special Oscar award for their important contribution to the development of cinema. The following year, the first film ever was entirely spoken.
In the thirties they offered a successful series of gangster films like Public Enemy, Little Caesar, and High Sierra

with Humphrey Bogart. In addition they produced musical films in this period. In 1933, two of the most important musicals of the decade,42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933…
Starting from the thirties, Warner Bros. began, however, to produce the successful series of Looney Tunes cartoons, headed by some of the famous characters referred to earlier…

During World War II the film that became legend was made, Casablanca, 1942 by Michael Curtiz, with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
In the fifties, A star is born, 1954 and the mythic James Dean’s Rebel without a cause, 1955.
The seventies must be remembered for: All the President’s men, 1976 by Alan J. Pakula and all the films of Stanley Kubrick, from Orange mechanics (A clockwork orange, 1971) onwards. International films today certainly have Warner Brothers to thank for the development of film.
Think of The Matrix, Harry Potter…The work of this legendary company has not only a remarkable importance money wise but also sentimentally, in the way it connects us with its characters. It is certainly not easy to sum up this mix of work, success and wonderful emotions.

Today, Warner, which now is part of the publishing group headed by the famous Time Magazine, has specialized in television production (WB Television).
And so… For my known or yet unknown friends who are reading this and are thinking about coming to this beautiful city I just wanted to tell you about this piece of life that is very near, not around the corner, but only two blocks away…from our hotel. So why not come to stay with us at Yes Hotel, near Termini Station, for the perfect getaway treat.

Please note: The Warner Bros office in Rome is not available for tourist visits.

One of the many interesting facts about Rome is that is the only city in the world with a country within it. That state is the Vatican, house of one of the most important spiritual icons in the world: the pope.

The pope at the moment is Benedict XVI, born Joseph Alois Ratzinger in Germany. Joseph’s vocation for priesthood was evident from the beginning. When he was five years old he announced his parents he wanted to become a cardinal, and after the dreadful experience of the Second World War he entered the seminar.

The future pope was soon recognized as a brilliant theologist and went on to became archbishop of Munich and Freising, a charge he kept for five years until he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by pope John Paul II. From this position he defended an orthodox view of the Catholicism and became one of the nearest and most appreciated collaborators of the pope, who allegedly turned down his resignation three times.

When the time came to elect a new pope the name of Ratzinger was often given as one of the favourites which was seen by many as a signal that he wouldn’t be elected since only rarely that kind of “papal predictions” come true.

This time they did, anyway, and Joseph Ratzinger is now the pope, under the name of Benedict XVI, chosen by himself as an homage to pope Benedict XV and Saint Benedict of Nursia.

During his pontificate Benedict XVI has tried to stress the continuity in the traditions of the catholic church, assuming an orthodox approach to religion and even using some papal garments that haven’t been used for decades.

When at Rome there are two chances two see the pope. One is through the Wednesday audiences held in San Peter’s Square or in Castel Gandolfo, depending of the season. To attend an audience it’s necessary to have tickets, which are available for free upon request to the Prefecture of the Papal Household. The other way to see the pope is the Sunday Angelus led by the pope on Saint Peter’s Square every Sunday at noon. No tickets are required to attend.

Some tour companies are able to take you to the papal audience saving you the trouble to write to get the tickets. If you are staying at Hotel Des Artistes in Rome our staff will be more than happy to help you to make such arrangements!