Staying with the nuns

Author: By Lois Brunner Bastian, Globe Correspondent

Date: SUNDAY, February 15, 1998

Page: M19

Section: Travel

We'd asked the tourist office at Rome's Termini Train Station to call Fraterna Domus about room availability. They refused because it wasn't on their official list. Unable to hold a phone conversation in Italian ourselves, we had no choice but to take a cab and ask in person. That turned out to be the first lucky step leading to our discovery of five budget guesthouses in Italy run by Catholic sisters or brothers.

Sister Melena, a woman in her 40s with a ready smile, answered the door. Despite her lack of English and our minuscule Italian vocabulary, we learned she had a room for two with breakfast for roughly $55 a night.

A bargain rate like that in Rome? What could the room be like? We wondered as Sister Melena led us through the cozy dining room and up one flight. Room 3 was modest, spotless, plain and comfortable with three single beds, a wardrobe, desk and chair, and one window. The tiny bath had an unenclosed shower head in the ceiling and a floor drain, a common arrangement in Italy. Although not likely to please lovers of luxury, the room suited us just fine. And there was more good news: Lunch or dinner was served for an additional $11 per person. The 11 p.m. curfew didn't inconvenience us.

The location between the Piazza Navona and the Tiber River was excellent. We were able to walk to the Vatican, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Tevi Fountain, Campo del Fiori, Roman Forum, and other prime sites.

Dead tired by evening, we were often content to dine ``at home'' on the simple but satisfying meals served by the sisters, who all wore street clothes. Dinners included a choice of soup or pasta, entrees such as pot roast or veal stew with rosemary, vegetable, and potato, and a salad. Dessert was always several kinds of fresh fruit. Meeting other Fraterna Domus guests -- a mini United nations -- enhanced our dinners. We talked with a nun from Japan, tourists from Canada, Germany, Chile, and other parts of Italy. There were no other American guests while we were there.

Pleased with our first stay in a religious guesthouse, we asked Sister Melena if she knew of similar lodgings north of Rome, where we were headed. Using her first recommendation, we found Alma Domus in Siena to be outstanding. If only we hadn't arrived so late in the day.

Morning is the best time to snag a budget room of any kind, anywhere. But we'd arrived in Siena after 4 p.m. Again, the tourist office -- overwhelmed by visitors seeking information -- declined to telephone the guesthouse. The office did give us a map, though. By the time we found Alma Domus -- associated with the Sanctuary of Santa Caterina next door to it -- and entered its enclosed garden, dusk was falling.

At first, Sister Giacinta, an elderly, no-nonsense nun in a black habit, said they had no double room. I assumed a woebegone manner and flashed the Fraterna Domus business card, stressing how much we'd liked staying there. Eventually a room with twin beds and a private bath materialized. Price: $48 double. Breakfast was an extra $6 per person, no bargain. We took the room sight unseen.

It was down one flight, clean and comfortable, with just one shortcoming: no natural light. The window faced a dim air shaft. My husband and I suspected the room was the guesthouse's least desirable, rented only when none of its 30 other rooms was available. That could explain Sister Giacinta's hesitation. Grateful to find any acceptable room at that hour, we were not complaining.

Exploring the other floors and peeping into vacated rooms the next morning, I found out how desirable Alma Domus really was. Rooms on the floors above ours had balconies with marvelous views of the striped Duomo as well as the red tile roofs and chimney pots of Siena spread below -- for the same price we paid. Alma Domus had not only economy but ambiance. Moral: Don't pull into town at sunset.

Lacking a lodging recommendation from Sister Melena, we were on our own in San Gimignano. Reportedly, there was a religious guesthouse in town, although none appeared on the published list. The reason, according to the woman in the tourist office: The monks who run the Convento di Sant/Agostino don't belong to the association of hotel owners. She did tell us the guesthouse's location, attached to the church of the same name. Middle-aged Brother Pietro, in civilian clothes, told us there were 27 rooms, none with private bath. The shared ones proved large and numerous. Price was $28, including the charge for parking.

The room was the most basic of our trip. It contained two single, sway-backed beds, a sink, a chest, a desk, and a chair, all well worn. Still, it had a large window overlooking the glorious landscape of Tuscany. Best of all, the room allowed us to overnight cheaply and enjoy San Gimignano after the throngs of day-trippers had departed.

Volterra, where we visited the Etruscan Museum, was not an overnight stop on our itinerary. But we were tempted to stay after inspecting the Conventa Sant'Andres, next door to the church of the same name. Attractive and pleasant, it has 30 rooms both with and without bath. The rooms with bath cost $38 double; the others are $34 double. A five-minute walk from the town center, the convent has large quiet rooms that open off wide hallways adorned with frescoes. Convento Sant-Andrea was another find to add to our growing list of budget accommodations.

Inquiring at the tourist office in Venice about the location of Sister Melena's lodging suggestion, we struck out at first. Open only June through September, the young woman told us. This was October. Did she know of any other similar places? That question got us a brochure of Venice lodgings containing such a list. But visitors must choose among them carefully. Many are youth hostels with dormitory-type accommodations. Not what we were looking for. The woman marked three offering private rooms with baths.

We chose Istituto San Giuseppe, open year round, in the Castello quarter, close by Piazza San Marco. Like the places we'd already visited, San Giuseppe had no sign, nothing to tell a passerby it took in lodgers. (Nor did the staff there or anywhere else speak English.) Sister Serafina, in a habit, let us in. We showed the elderly nun the business cards of the other sisters and brothers we'd stayed with and waited until she found a room. San Giuseppe has 15 rooms, all with private bath, at $42 double. No meals served. Curfew 11 p.m.

Taking us in tow, Sister Serafina led us across an open courtyard and into a wide corridor bounded by classrooms. Besides taking in visitors, the sisters run an elementary school. Then we entered a far more modern part of the Istituto that seemed of recent construction. An elevator took us to the fourth floor.

Our room, with beamed ceiling, was the most modern we'd encountered so far. Paint was unscarred, furniture appeared brand new. There were three single beds with nightstands between them, a large wardrobe, three chairs, and a writing table. A casement window looked out on rooftops. The bath was thoroughly up to date and the first we'd had with an enclosed shower stall. We couldn't believe our good fortune: to be staying in mythic Venice, one of the most expensive cities in Italy, in such comfort, within five short blocks of Saint Mark's Basilica for $42 a night.

Every morning on our way out of San Giuseppe, we passed the lively Italian children coming to school, many brought by their mothers.

Travelers with their hearts set on a room overlooking the Grand Canal might disagree with our travel philosophy: Live half as luxuriously and stay away twice as long.

But in our experience, accommodations offered by religious organizations are the way to cut the generally high cost of lodgings in Italy.

Alma Domus, Via Camporegio 37, Siena; (0577) 44177.

Convento di Sant/Agostino, Piazza Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano; (0577) 940383.

Conventa Sant/Andrea, Piazza Sant/Andrea, Volterra; (0588) 86023.

Istituto San Giuseppe, Castello 5402, 30122 Venice; (041) 5225352