Italian Steps - Hotels and accommodation - Cultural notes

Fact File

• Italy offers a very wide choice of accommodation, ranging from the most basic pensione or one-star hotel to spectacular old palazzi and luxurious five-star hotels. If you would like a room with a view in Florence, or anywhere else, you should ask for una camera con vista.



• Albergo is Italian for hotel, although l'hotel is also very common. Un albergo diurno is a day hotel, offering a bathroom, shower and other facilities, while Residenze fall somewhere between a hotel and self-catering flats, appartamenti self-catering.



• If you are in a new place and want help with booking accommodation, ask at the local Azienda di Turismo, tourist office. They will make reservations for you. The main railway stations and airports also have this facility.



• Hotel prices are usually tutto incluso, inclusive of taxes and service charges, but la prima colazione, breakfast, isn't generally included in the price of your stay as most people prefer the atmosphere of Italian cafés.



• Hotels are generally quite expensive. During the high season, they are often fully booked months in advance and may insist that you take breakfast or stay on a mezza pensione, half-board, or pensione completa, full-board basis.



• The term pensione describes a small, old, mainly family-run, one or two star hotel. Be aware that due to their ageing plumbing systems, pensioni can often be noisy and not all have central heating, though they can make up for that in 'character'.



• As part of the Agriturismo scheme, Italy offers tourists in country areas rooms in thousands of farms, villas and mountain chalets at reasonable prices (see website below).



• You can also stay in convents or monasteries - if you're prepared to abide by the rules! Many will not admit members of the opposite sex and there is generally an early curfew!



• Camping is very popular in Italy and there are over 2,100 sites in operation, providing accommodation in cabins as well as spaces for tents and caravans. Offering basic facilities, but often with a restaurant, swimming pool or tennis courts, many campsites are located within walking distance of the major towns and cities.



• If you're after 5-star luxury with a celebrity-connection, look no further than Venice. The sumptuous Danieli in Castello was once the palace of the Doge Dandolo family and has strong literary and musical connections. The Hotel Gritti Palace was made famous by Ernest Hemingway's recommendation of 'the best hotel in a city of great hotels.' It's no wonder that Tchaikovsky found the inspiration to compose the first three movements of his Fourth Symphony while staying at the Londra Palace, with its magnificent views of the lagoon. And Thomas Mann wrote the original novel for Luchino Visconti's film 'Death in Venice' at the Excelsior Palace, which was also the setting for the movie.