Staying in Italy: Where To Find Accomodation Online

Finding a good accomodation while you are in another country can be a daunting experience. Especially when you intend to live there for quite a long period of 3 months or more, staying in a hotel could waste your pocket money for unnecessary services (unless you are a Richie Rich ;) !). But whether you would want to stay in a rented house, apartment, or villa, the first thing you should do before arriving in your destination country is CERTAINLY to have already booked your place.

Now I am talking about Italy. As a foreigner who also experienced the madness of browsing rooms available for summer school (and will probably do it again this year!), you must first decide in what type of the city you are going to live. Whether it is in a big city like Rome or Bologna, or a very small and peaceful town like Perugia and Gubbio. You must also find out whether it is a favourite destination for tourists or students, and if they have easily access information center for every foreign visitor (But I think I am quite sure that every single city and town in Italy has this). I am saying this because when it comes to "high season", it is very likely that all the accomodations are fully booked even before the summer begins!

You must also realize that renting a room, house or even villa in this country (and maybe in certain countries in Europe as well), is charged with several additional fees:

1. A deposit fee; which normally costs about 200-400 Euros, depending on the type of the room. This must be paid in advance before you arrive as a guarantee that the room or house is already booked for you.

2. A first month rent fee; it varies, depending on the size and type of the room (whether it is a single for one person or double bed for two).

2. Gas, water and electricity; known as "le spese" in Italian, which normally costs about 30-50 Euros per week. This is payable everytime you are asked to pay the room rent fee.

Even when you ask for the help of a property or real estate agency, they will charge you more for their commission and contract fee, ranging from 100-200 Euros.

So here is the average fee summary:

First month's rent € 300

Security deposit € 300

Commission € 172.50

Contract fee € 60

TOTAL € 832.50

(Source: ostelloperugia.it)

Be aware too that some apartments in small towns, like Perugia where I spent my summer last year, don't have internet access, and it is rather difficult to find free wireless connection unless you pay a monthly subscription in an internet cafe. So if you are an internet freak like me ;), do not expect too much to get free, high speed access to tune-in to you favourite sites while you are here.

Instead, my Irish flatmate used a GPRS facility from her cellular (in this case she said to me TIM, a local pre-paid GSM card works much better and cheaper!) onto which she subscribed monthly for about 20 Euros and plugged it to her laptop.

So, rambling about fees and facilities, at least you know now already what to be prepared before making a "rent-contract" with your future landlord. But of course you need to know too where to go to get information accomodation in Italy, and if possible, to book the room as well.

EasyStanza

This is the place where you could get first-hand information about accomodations in all cities across Italy, particularly among young people and students; as landlords and room-keeper also make use of this website to advertise their rooms and apartments. Unfortunately it is written in Ieasy Italian, so it might be somewhat hard for those who don't speak the language.

"Cerco una stanza" means I search for a room , while "Offro una stanza" or I offer a room. Everyone must be logged on to find or advertise an information about the room and so that you have to make an account here, whether a free or paid one. As such, a paid account would facilitate you more to get the contact number of the room advertisers.

I found my apartment in Perugia from this Easystanza service too, and I subscribed it for free. Sometimes there is a few landlords actively searching for a new customer, and I might be the lucky one to have been contacted by her :) !

Affittare in Italia

I just passed by to this website and I think it would be quite a lot more useful for you looking for a villa or house in some private, quiet or villageous areas in touristic cities of Italy.They also provide translations in other 6 European languages (including English), so you need not worry to search the information in your own language.

Studenti.It

This one is a very useful for students searching for room and jobs while being in Italy. But you must be able to understand Italian also as the information provided is in Italian language. Like easystanza, In this website you can find rooms, apartments or houses in every city and region of Italy, also there is a "prezzo" feature which enables you to look for accomodation that is suited to your financial condition. Prezzo means price.

Well... summer is only a few months ahead. If you are planning to take a long private vacation to this romantic and yet historical, Romanesque country, why don't you try to book for your accomodation from now on?

See you in Italy... Arrivederci!