ORA DOMUS LA QUERCIA

Having read the reviews on the website, I was really keen to experience this place. I can't fault the helpfulness of the staff or the room, which was spacious, clean and comfortable but unfortunately my stay was ruined by two coachloads of Italian kids who swept through the place like locusts and banged on my door repeatedly as they passed by late in the evening, which was pretty intimidating, especially as they were (in theory) accompanied by teachers! I managed to tackle one of the teachers the following morning about it and have her say so that she would speak to the group - by then it was too late. So on the whole I would say, go and stay there, but do ask if any groups are being hosted there and avoid those times if possible. It was such a shame as it could be a great place to spend some time. There is an excellent restaurant, and the breakfast buffet is more than sufficient. The location is 2 km outside Viterbo, but there is a regular bus service (local bus number 6) going from La Quercia right to the centre of Viterbo and back, every 20 minutes or so in rush hour and about every 30 minutes at other times. You can buy a bus ticket at the local newsagents/bars (cost 1 euro). The Sanctuary church of La Quercia is well worth a look (the hotel is part of the complex).

The room was bigger than we expected, it was clean and quiet. Good and abundant continental breakfast. It hasn't been possible to fully close the window shades, and the shower was a bit yellow. Great rate quality/rate!! I think we've been in the renovated area

I guess nobody can leave this place without a strong opinion of sorts ... Apparently - but not sure - this used to be a monastery until a few years back (one room has a plaque which says that Benedict XVI stayed there in 2009, so I assume it was maybe on the occasion of turning the monastery into a non-monastery), meaning huge hallways which reflect sound like you are standing in a church, stone floors etc. The rooms (many, many of them) have spartanic interiors, AND doors made of wafer-thin wooden panels which are sometimes even cracked. While monks still lived there fine - people were quiet and did not trample around, so no solid doors needed. However, now that it is a hotel, there is trampling, chatting, you name it and - no joke - you can hear it from a corridor 100 m away, easily. On top of that: forget sleep after 7:00 in the morning and before 22:00 at night, as the tower bell is going every 15 minutes, and the windows are thin, too. Room was not really clean, furniture had burn marks from a decrepit lamp standing too close to it, mould around the shower. The only thing that is ok about the place is the price, but I still would not go back, because holidaying without a good nights sleep is not a lot of fun, no matter how inexpensive. Anyways, it is also interesting, of course, you can imagine the life of the monks to have been very unromantic indeed, and it would be interesting to get any information at all about the pre-hotel history, but that, too, is missing. There was a big map of Asia in one of the corridors - maybe because the monks ran missions there? We will never know ... Oh, and that "tunnel" from the reception to the mega corridors must be taken from someone's nightmare, honestly: dirty red carpet, huge, ugly mirrors ... like a 60s horror movie. Quite an experience ... :-)