Hotel Romano House (Catania, ITALY)

Honestly, I have no idea what to expect from these hotels in Sicily. There are obviously not a great deal of lodging options on the island and I tried not to be too picky about it. Our first stop was Catania on the eastern part of Sicily and like most Sicilian towns, the international chains were not well represented here. There are some nice local brands around but the choice of boutique hotels is far and few.



I ended up picking Romano House, a quiet hotel in the residential district of Catania, Sicily. Although it's not exactly in a prime location like the UNA hotel, most tourist attractions are well within walking distance.



Let's start with dining first. There's a restaurant on the ground floor that serves a pretty simple Italian fare but like most restaurants on the island, they open late (8pm if I am not mistaken) so I pretty much fell asleep (after our 15-hour flight) well before it opened for business. 



The room is very simple and relatively modern, highlighted by furniture in white tone and clean lines, and coupled with dark wood flooring giving the space a sense of serenity.





Likewise for the bathroom....although a bit more marbled walls.




If you like a quiet environment to sleep like us, a room facing the back will suit you well.

I thought service was fairly up and down depending on the shift. It was friendly and upbeat during the daytime but had a little bit of rough edges during the night. 

Breakfast was included and served from 7 to 10 but don't expect too much. If there's an area of improvement, it has to be the wifi connection. Having complimentary wifi is always a plus but the frequent re-connection was really annoying.



Like I've said before, the hotel is situated in a quiet area so it's a little difficult to find a convenience store for food and water. But not to worry because there's a small grocery store called Euro Spin within a 2 minute walk from the hotel in case you need to stock up on bottled water, milk and snacks.



Well, the location definitely exceeded my expectation. We got to the Bellini Theatre in 5 minutes and other major attractions such as the Cathedral in no more than 12-15 minutes. Not bad.



Despite all the shortcomings (wifi connection, breakfast etc.), I was reasonably happy with my stay at Romano House. I wasn't expecting a five-star experience in the first place and for the small price that we paid, they managed to check most boxes for us, so I considered this money well spent.



Rating: ❤❤❤
Price: €€€
Address: Via Giovanni di Prima 20, 95100 Catania CT, Italy
Tel: +39 095 352 0611
Website: www.romanohouse.com