Hotel La Rosta

Well, I tried to book at La Posta as it was close to the venue where my daughter and her chorus were singing the Verdi Requiem, but the attendees at a major photography show had intervened to fill all the rooms in centro. So I was casting about for a place to stay and found La Rosta. The venue is not that far from centro, but it is on a street that seems to front an industrial zone, so it is hardly "bijoux." The facility, designed by the host's architect uncle, is a concrete mass. Inside, the emphasis is on essentials: the bed filled the room and was exceedingly comfortable. The bathroom was spacious, immaculate, and well appointed. Everything else was cramped (and oddly disproportional: the little prints of Klimt, Klee and Van Gogh were dwarfed against the very high ceilings; the desk chair could hardly be pulled back from the desk, so close it was to the bed.) The breakfast room features an assortment of IKEA items and has a vague "casbah" quality with its billowing curtains and gazebo like presentation. All in all, however, I found the place to be entirely satisfactory--a real paragon of hospitality, even if in appearance it lacked charm. The innkeeper, Paolo, was terrific. He knew I was going to a concert and when I didn't appear for what he thought was my departure time, he came to the room to make sure I was ready (I had mistakenly told him the concert was at 8 when it was at 9). When I returned to my room after the concert, a liter of mineral water had been placed in my fridge. In the morning, Paolo greeted me warmly and served me a nice cappuccino. The breakfast buffet selections were unprepossessing, but entirely satisfactory. LaPosta may be lovely, but should I return to R-E, I would happily return to LaRosta and to the classic, unforced hospitality of Paolo, presiding over a facility that joins the house in which he was born with the hotel his uncle built! The aromas emanating from the "mediterranean" restaurant on the first floor suggest that a visit there is also something to look forward to making.