Villa Habsburg is an absolute gem in the middle of Rome, and we still can't believe our luck in having found it online. It would be impossible to find anything remotely like this anywhere else in Rome. The gardens are lush and beautiful, with green lawns and towering umbrella pines framing the views of the Baths of Caracalla and other Roman landmarks.

Our traveling group of three 50-something couples rented the "Piano Nobile" - a second-floor apartment with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dining/sitting room, and a full kitchen. The bedrooms were huge, clean and lovely, with large windows and French doors onto the terraces. Every bedroom had its own terrace with table and chairs, and we enjoyed all three of them for breakfast, appetizers and late-night snacks (the terraces are large enough for six people to enjoy together). The views from the terraces are incredible, day or night. Even though it was very hot in Rome during our visit, the house stayed cool and comfortable, with great airflow thanks to all the windows.

A wonderful grocery store is located just a couple of blocks away, so we stocked our kitchen with breakfast supplies plus pancetta, bresaola, cheeses (the selection was fantastic), figs, tomatoes and wine. We felt like royalty.

The location of the house was excellent. We never used the buses, because we all love walking. We walked to several restaurants, to the Coliseum (a 10- to 15-minute walk), and even to the Vatican (about 45 to 50 minutes). When we opted for taxis a couple of times to give our feet a break, we found the cost pretty reasonable.

One note for groups: An additional bedroom and bathroom are available as an add-on, and you might want to consider that if more than two couples are sharing the apartment and/or if you want a little more privacy. One of the bedrooms has its own en-suite bathroom, but the other two bedrooms share a bathroom - and those in the far bedroom have to walk through the center bedroom to get to the bathroom. In addition, this bathroom has a glass door - it's fogged, so you can't see details, but you can see in. We all knew each other well, so this wasn't an issue for us - we just agreed to look the other way when passing the bathroom door. But it's something to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to add the extra bed/bath unit.

All in all, we loved our stay at Villa Habsburg and would recommend it enthusiastically. Twelve thumbs up from our group!

We had a most perfect week and loved your beautiful garden - the perfect place to come back to each afternoon for a siesta

Your house helped to make our Roman holiday special and sooth away the stress we were all under: Thank you

We had a wonderful time in your beautiful home, thank you very much. We wish we were still there !

Thank you for all you did in getting us set up for this trip. Our stay was awesome !

We had such a lovely stay at your villa It was such a beautiful place and setting and we really enjoyed our time.
Thank you for the information on restaurats, buses etc. It was very helpful and we really appreciated it. We will definitely pass on your information to any friends visiting Rome in the future

We had a lovely time in Rome and managed to see everything we wanted mainly on foot. We would therefore have no hesitation in recommending your property to others. Many thanks for all your help in enabling us to achieve such a good holiday-just what we needed

I cannot begin to tell you how impressed we were with both the Villa and your hospitality in letting us stay in such an unbelievably beautiful residence . Thank you for the greatest week we have ever had - your villa is an experience most never get