Rental Neighbourhoods
- The studio is located in the neighbourhood of Trastevere and apartments can often be found nearby.
- Other easily accessible neighbourhoods are: the Centro Storico, Testaccio, Monteverde, and Vaticano.
Average rental costs
In general, the closer you are to the studio, the more you will pay.
- There are usually a few large apartments available from Richard Piccolo (+39/06-589-6766), the head of the Pratt Program, very close to the studio or even within the same building; these typically cost €600 per person per month ($900).
- The lowest rental last year was an apartment in Monteverde, a 40-minute walk or a bus ride from the studio, for about €300 per person per month ($450).
- A two-person Trastevere monolocale (one-room apartment) from an agency was about €1300 per month ($2,000).
When to start your search
A word of warning: Do not attempt to find an apartment in Rome in the period between August 15th and the beginning of September. If you want to arrive in Rome during this period, make sure you have a hotel room booked or an apartment already rented. The end of August can be very pleasant, if you have a place to stay. There are very few locals in the city, there's no traffic, lots of cultural events and it's not as hot as July.
- September: people generally return to Rome and begin doing business, i.e. renting apartments.
Where to look
- Pick up Wanted in Rome
- Look for notices on bulletin boards in places near the studio.
- Try the Corner Bookshop (Via del Moro)
- The Open Door Bookshop (Via della Lungaretta),
- Further away, the Economy Book Center (Via Torino, 136, Metro Repubblica) has a very popular bulletin board.
- If you speak and/or understand Italian, pick up Porta Portese, a newspaper that carries only classified advertising
For Internet near the studio, try Baylon Cafè (Via di San Francesco a Ripa, 151) or Nick Nowego Cafe' (Via della Paglia, 6)
Further away, there is the very cheap Easy Everything at Piazza Barberini for Internet.
For information on what’s happening in the city, get Rome C’è or Time Out Roma.
Helpful Italian phrases
If you can at least begin the phone conversation (to set up an appointment to see an apartment) in Italian, you've got more chance of being successful. Try using some key phrases like:
- Posso vedere l'appartamento/la camera? (May I see the apartment/room?)
- Quando? Stasera, domani... (When? This evening, tomorrow...)
- Sono a Roma per quattro mesi - fino alla fine di Dicembre. (I will be in Rome for 4 months - until the end of December.)
- Quanto e' l'affito al mese? (How much is the rent per month?)
- Grazie, prego, ciao, a domani, a stasera... (Thank you, you're welcome, ciao, until tomorrow, until this evening...)