B&Bs and convents near Cinque Terre

My two girlfriends and I took a 2-week independent trip to Italy, June 7-21, 2006. We always plan our trips ourselves (no packages), customizing them for what we want to see and leaving plenty of free time in between the sightseeing for cafés, hiking, etc.

This trip included Venice (plus Murano, Burano and Torcello islands), our hiking the entire Cinque Terre trail, Florence (with a stop to tour Pisa en route) and Rome.

In the Cinque Terre, five villages on the Ligurian Sea linked by wonderful trails, we stayed in a B&B called Ca’ d’ Andrean (visit www.cadandrean.it). Though the owners don’t speak English well, they are personable.

For a triple — comfortable and big, with private bath and a lovely garden view — we paid the high-season price of €120 (near $158). Credit cards were not accepted; we air-mailed a personal check to reserve the room. Breakfast cost €6 each, though we ate it elsewhere; there were several places to pick from.

Manarola is definitely the least touristy of the five villages, and if I were to do it over again, even after having seen all of the others, I would stay in Manarola again.

• For the rest of the trip we hoped to stay in convents, but our choice in Venice (Don Orione) was already booked, so after a lot of research we opted for Casa Cosmo (“Calle de Mezo” - Mercerie, S. Marco 4976, 30124 Venezia, Italy; phone/fax 00390412960710 or visit www. casacosmo.com). Its location cannot be beat: right at the Rialto stop, in one of the tiny, narrow streets off the canal.

For three nights in a nice triple room with three single beds, a private bathroom, air-conditioning and Internet connection, we paid €140 ($184) cash per room per night, including taxes and Continental breakfast (coffee and rolls brought to our room). You can book with a credit card, but it will probably cost a little more.

David Cosmo answered all e-mail promptly. He even came to meet us at the vaporetto stop to be sure we found his place with no problems. It was just three minutes away, but with all of the alleys we could have wandered around for a long time.

• In Florence we stayed at the convent Suore S. Elisabetta (e-mail s.elisabetta.fi@tiscali.it) on Viale Michaelangelo. We paid €38 ($50) per person, including a Continental breakfast served in a lovely room.

About a 5-minute walk from the local bus stops, this Art Deco villa is in a beautiful old neighborhood, near but not in the center of town. But from the main train station at Santa Maria Novella, you need to take bus No. 23 until Piazza Ferucci (just ask the driver to let you off). From Piazza Ferucci, it’s about a 5- to 7-minute walk to the convent.

I highly recommend taking a taxi from near the train station. Finding the right bus to take outside of the station is no easy piece of work, but if you have time and the energy you will make it. We did. If you have a lot of luggage, the bus may prove a challenge. We each had only what we could carry.

Our room, on the first floor, was huge, with a private bathroom and a door that opened into a lovely garden where we could sit and sip some wine in the evenings. (Yes, the sisters allowed guests to have wine.)

• There are many convents in Rome. We were arriving by train and so chose one very near the Roma Termini station. Suore di S. Elisabetta (e-mail ist.it.s.elisabetta@libero.it) is next to the Basilica S.M. Maggiore — almost in the middle of tourist Rome. A huge, institutional-like building (think of huge dormitory-type accommodation), it has rooms of every size, both with and without private bath.

For a double room without private bath the daily rate was €61 ($80) total for two or three people, breakfast included — but because there were three of us ladies, we opted for a triple room with a (tiny) private bath (shower) in the room. For our triple we paid €38 per person per night; it was not huge, but space was ample.

They served breakfast but no other meals. There were lots of cafés and restaurants nearby, however.

We were free to use the chapel as well as the great rooftop terrace, where we could have a wonderful picnic or bottle of wine with Rome sprawled out all around — a grand view. If you go, don’t miss this!

On our way out of Rome, the nuns called us a taxi. The ride to the airport took 45 minutes. Though I don’t remember the exact cost, sharing between three people makes taking the train unneccessary and much more of a hassle.

The location of each of these convents was excellent, but I wouldn’t recommend them for those with walking difficulties; you have to walk from each convent to the bus stop or you can call a taxi, which we did as well. The Rome convent is near the train station; we walked there, over cobblestones, in about five minutes with our minimal luggage.

The rooms in each convent were spacious. The downside was that each had a curfew; we had to be in by 11 p.m. Also, often the nuns spoke little to no English, so don’t expect a lot of travel help/info.

A convent stay is really for the independent traveler only. You get a lot of room for your euro plus a safe, wonderful location, but you don’t get a gourmet breakfast or a concierge or similar services.

Breakfasts were simple — rolls, butter, tea and coffee. The nuns served it. We brought our own goodies to add to it; this was no problem. In fact, at each place we were allowed a bit of room in their refrigerator, which helped a lot.

To arrange our stays, I found all of the info we needed on the Internet (I just Googled, for instance, “Convent stay Florence”) and from recommendations in “Rick Steves’ Italy 2006.” Basically, I just contacted the convents by e-mail. It was very easy. Oh, many will want cash only (as do many of the small, nontouristy B&Bs). ATMs are easy and plentiful, so it was no problem.

The following is a wonderful website offering descriptions of specific convents plus a lot of great info: www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0207/ladolcevita.shtml.

There are other books I found and could have used. “Bed and Blessings Italy: A Guide to Convents and Monasteries Available for Overnight Lodging” by June and Anne Walsh (1999, Paulist Press. ISBN 9780809138487 — 222 pp., $16.95) gives detailed information on 131 religious facilities. “The Guide to Lodging in Italy’s Monasteries” by Eileen Barish (third edition is 2006, Anacapa Press. ISBN 9781884465260 — 512 pp., $22.95) has information and pictures for more than 400 locations. It can also be ordered at www.monasteriesofitaly.com.

JANA E. SHOBER

Elk Grove, CA