Website: n/a
Address: Piazza Luigi di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 70121 Bari, Italy
Telephone: 0039 335 780 9681
Email: info@residenzasveva.it

How to get to:

From the train station Bari Centrale (with your back to it, facing the fountain in front or Piazza Aldo Moro), make a right , cross Corso Carvour and at the next junction make a left on Piazza Luigi di Savoia. Nr 24 is almost opposite to the church.

Depending on how tired you are and how much luggage you have, you can easily get there on food in less than 10 min from the train station.

The room (bathroom ensuite)

Our room featured a large double bed, AC (never worked), balcony, TV (Italian stations only), armoir, armchair, bean bag, bathroom ensuite (complete with bathtub).

The guesthouse

The rooms were named after British Writers and we got Shakespeare room. There was a large hallway (where the router was located), a breakfast area (with fridge, coffee machine, microwave) and that’s all we saw. The owner never showed the guesthouse to us.

Our experience

I emailed the owner once I knew how I’d get back to Bari and told him the hour we’d get there, as well as an updated phone number. This was about a week before our arrival. I never got a reply, so a day before I called him to be sure our reservation was confirmed. I’ve made the reservation via Hostelbookers in late March (once I got our plane tickets to Italy) when I paid 13.91GBP / 20.15 USD. I paid the reminder (the total was 115 EUR / 128 USD) once we checked in.

We got at the place at about the same time he did. He took us upstairs (the apartment is at 2nd floor in what appeared to be a residential building). The whole place is old (and smells old). I knew this when I booked – the old feeling that is .

He then took our details for the check in, gave us a xerox map of the city center (100% useless) and gave us very few details about the area. I asked about getting to Alerbobello (to confirm what I researched) and I didn’t get much info back (like nothing more than what I already knew).

Our reservation said “free breakfast” but this was never mentioned to us. So although we saw the coffee machine in the breakfast area, we didn’t know if we should or not use it.

Then he took us in the room and that was the last I saw of him. Oh we did ask which key was for each door (entrance to building, to apartment to room). At some point in the evening we wanted to turn on the AC but the damn thing didn’t work. Opened for a sec and closed back. We didn’t call the owner to ask, figured we can keep the door to the balcony open. Which we did…and invited the noise in.

The bathroom was large, complete with bathtub and a…shredder, along with instructions to only toss toilet paper in the toilet (Err, yeah, duh, who would do otherwise?!).

Our room was facing the street coming from the train station and going to the center…so loads of traffic. And it was on the east, thus once the sun was out, it started to get hot. Complete with the AC not working , it made for some pretty crappy sleep.

I did like that we had towels and plenty of them, plus toiletries. Of course, the net in Italy is usually terrible but they did have Vodafone Fiber. It worked ok the first day but the next day (a Sunday), others were in the property and the signal was not good enough to allow me even to check my flight for Monday.

The place is really close to the old town and new town center, so you don’t need to worry about transport within the city.

Would we recommend this place? Yes, sure. Just don’t attempt to be “romantic” as your neighbors will hear everything (as we’ve heard their every sneeze and what they talked). If you don’t mind watching for some earwigs in the bathroom every single time you shower, then it’s totally fine.

The good

— location, location, location: close to the Train Station , the Old Town and the new city center
— large bathroom ensuite, complete with bathtub and toiletries (soap, shower gel)
— wi-fi (but depends a lot on how many people are logged in at the same time)
— towels included
— cleaning service each day
— complimentary fridge magnet (it’s not a joke).

The bad

— the AC was not working
— the street was very noisy
— our reservation said “breakfast included” but the owner never said a word about it
— the owner never answered my email I sent to confirm our arrival hour, I had to call him the day before we arrived
— the city map we got for free was a xero copy and completely useless (not detailed)

Our rating