Is San Saba a good area to stay in Rome?

San Saba is the lower hill behind the Aventine, and until 1870 its only building was the church it is named after. In 1909 the city built a small garden suburb for civil servants between the church and the walls, and it is still there: low houses, gardens, and streets that barely see a car.

The rest of the district is the Baths of Caracalla, where the opera plays in summer, the FAO headquarters and a lot of private green. Circo Massimo on metro B is at the northern edge, one stop from the Colosseum, and Testaccio's markets and trattorie are a ten-minute walk down the hill.

It is the calmest place to sleep this close to the centre, and that is also its limit. Piazza Navona is thirty-five minutes on foot, there is almost nothing open in the evening inside the district, and Viale Aventino along one side carries heavy traffic. The bigger problem is finding a room: there are few hotels and hardly any holiday flats.