Hotel Damaso — A Three-Star Scoring Above the Five-Stars Around It
It fits when you want the old city and the Vatican on the same pair of feet, and a small hotel run well beats a large one run adequately. It does not fit if you need a deep review history to trust a score, or facilities beyond a bar.
At a glance
- Official name
- Hotel Damaso
- Location & getting around
- Piazza della Cancelleria, 62, Rome, Italy
- Area
- Centro Storico
- Property type
- Hotel · 3★
- Guest score
- 9.2 / 10 · 203 reviews
Agoda guest score (as of 2026-08-23) - Good for
- Families, Couples
- Rooms & occupancy
- Double, Suite, Triple, Twin
- Source: Agoda property information
- Agoda data checked: 2026-08-23
- 9.2 — joint highest score of the 28 Rome stays here
- 1.66km to St Peter's, shortest of any historic-centre stay on this site
- Staff raised in eight of twelve reviews
- 203 reviews — the thinnest sample of the five Centro Storico stays
- 2.43km to Termini, the longest in this district
Agoda affiliate link — no extra cost to you · rates vary by date and occupancy
The only historic-centre address with a Vatican walk
Centro Storico is where you stay to walk the old city, and the standing complaint is that St Peter’s is still a trip. This property is the exception in this comparison.
| Distance | Among the five Centro Storico stays | |
|---|---|---|
| Pantheon | 433m | third |
| St Peter’s Basilica | 1.66km | closest by 400m |
| Colosseum | 1.80km | furthest |
| Roma Termini | 2.43km | furthest |
| Fiumicino Airport | 22.12km | — |
The next closest historic-centre property to the Vatican is 2.11km. Sitting on Piazza della Cancelleria puts you at the western edge of the old city, one bridge from the Vatican side, and that single fact reorganises what a day here looks like: St Peter’s in the morning on foot, Campo de’ Fiori for lunch, Navona in the evening, none of it involving transport.
The cost is at the other end of the table. The Colosseum and Termini are both the longest walks of the district, so Ancient Rome and the airport train are the things you give up.
Rooms — 39 of them, including a penthouse
Doubles, twins, triples and suites across a small building, with a penthouse and an accessible-friendly superior room among the types listed. The triple is worth checking if you are three — the historic centre offers few.
Guests describe the rooms as quiet at night despite an address between Campo de’ Fiori and Piazza Navona, which are two of the livelier squares in Rome. In a 39-room building that is more plausible than it would be in a large hotel.
Room names here are specific rather than generic, so book the name you want rather than assuming an upgrade.
Facilities — a bar, a restaurant and a shared terrace
Short list, small building. What guests actually use is the roof terrace, which comes up as a place to sit rather than a bar with a view.
Breakfast is the dominant theme — eight of twelve reviews raise it, several noting that the range was modest but the ingredients fresh. On Piazza della Cancelleria that matters less than it would elsewhere; the streets around are full of places to eat.
One thing the facility list cannot show: a guest describes leaving an item behind and the hotel tracking it down and posting it on. That is the kind of thing a 39-room property can do and a 300-room one cannot.
Best for
- Splitting days between Navona, Campo de' Fiori and St Peter's
- Travellers who prefer small hotels
- Parties of three in the historic centre
Not ideal if
- A 203-review sample feels too thin to rely on
- You want the Colosseum side of the city
A 9.2 with an asterisk worth stating
This is the joint highest score of all 28 Rome properties on this site. It is also drawn from 203 reviews, against 2,537 for iQ Hotel Roma and 4,044 for The RomeHello at the identical 9.2.
We would rather say that plainly than let the number do work it has not earned. A small hotel with a very good score and a thin sample is a strong signal that has been tested less. It is not the same object as a very good score tested four thousand times, and if you are choosing between them, that difference is the deciding one.
What the sample does contain is consistent: staff in eight of twelve reviews, cleanliness, a shared roof terrace, and quiet at night despite a central address. One guest describes the hotel tracking down and posting on an item left behind after check-out.
We have not stayed here. These are patterns across the guest reviews on the booking page, read on the date below.
Before you book
- 39 rooms, three stars. Doubles, twins, triples and suites are listed — triples are worth checking if you are three, since Rome is short of them
- Check-in 14:00, check-out 11:00
- Facilities are a bar and a restaurant, which is normal for a building this size in this district. There is a shared terrace guests mention using
- No metro crosses the historic centre. This address is walked, not ridden
- The city tax lands at check-out and is tied to the star rating, so a three-star stay costs noticeably less per person per night than the five-star ceiling (the bands are on the Italy page)
Compared with the rest in Centro Storico hotels; the six areas in where to stay in Rome.
FAQ
Is a 9.2 from 203 reviews trustworthy?
It is the joint highest score of the 28 Rome properties here, but on a much smaller sample than iQ Hotel Roma's 2,537 or The RomeHello's 4,044 at the same 9.2. Treat it as a strong signal that is less settled, not a stronger one.
Can I walk to the Vatican?
1.66km to St Peter's, the shortest of any historic-centre property on this site and about a 20-minute walk across the river. That is unusual — the rest of Centro Storico sits at 2.1km or more.
Where exactly is it?
Piazza della Cancelleria, between Campo de' Fiori and Piazza Navona. The Pantheon is 433m, third closest of the 28 stays compared here.
Browse by theme
Other stays in this city
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- Hotel Ripa Roma — The Flat Side of Trastevere, and the Bigger One
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- Hotel Splendide Royal — Where the City Ends and the Park Begins
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167m from Roma Termini, which is as close as this comparison gets, and a courtyard that guests say keeps the noise out.
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A 209-room four-star on Via Nazionale where guests split on the building's age, with one pointing out that the complaints may be older than the renovation.
- Starhotels Michelangelo — Closest to St Peter's, Furthest From Everything
363m from St Peter's, which no other stay in this comparison matches, in a 179-room hotel that can actually accommodate a family.
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963m from the Pantheon on Via Sistina, scoring 9.0, with no restaurant, bar, gym or lounge listed. That absence is the thing to understand before booking.
- THE INDEPENDENT HOTEL — A Small Hotel Whose Argument Is Upstairs
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- The RomeHello — Walking Away From the Station Is What You Are Buying
The furthest of the seven Termini stays from the station, and the closest of them to the Pantheon and St Peter's. Private rooms and dorms share one building.
- Twenty One Hotel — The Vatican Side Without the Vatican Crowd
On Prati's main shopping street, further from St Peter's than its neighbours and closer to everything else.
- Trevi Palace Luxury Inn — The Room Assignment Matters More Than the Hotel
A 32-room five-star beside the Trevi Fountain, where four of twelve reviews raise noise and every one of them points at the same rooms.
- Viminale Hotel — The Score and the Recent Reviews Do Not Agree
660m from Termini and 869m from the Colosseum, carrying the lowest score in this comparison alongside a recent sample that reads considerably better.
