THE INDEPENDENT HOTEL — A Small Hotel Whose Argument Is Upstairs
It fits when a rooftop you will actually use is worth more to you than square metres, and you want a small hotel rather than a large one. It does not fit if you need the old city on foot — at 2.04km the Pantheon is among the furthest in this area.
At a glance
- Official name
- THE INDEPENDENT HOTEL
- Location & getting around
- 48 Volturno Street, Rome, Italy
- Area
- Termini
- Property type
- Hotel · 4★
- Guest score
- 8.8 / 10 · 2,750 reviews
Agoda guest score (as of 2026-08-23) - Good for
- Families
- Rooms & occupancy
- Family room, Suite
- Source: Agoda property information
- Agoda data checked: 2026-08-23
- Rooftop breakfast and bar recur in seven of twelve reviews
- 331m to Termini — fourth of seven, close without being on the forecourt
- 45 rooms, the smallest of the seven, so service is personal
- 2.04km to the Pantheon — joint furthest of the seven
- 3.88km to St Peter's, second furthest here
Agoda affiliate link — no extra cost to you · rates vary by date and occupancy
The top floor is the reason people book it
Most hotel reviews are about the room. These are about the eighth floor.
Seven of the twelve reviews we read raise the rooftop, and they raise it in different ways — breakfast served up there with the city below, an evening bar, a sunset with a glass of prosecco, a terrace you can step out onto mid-meal. When a single feature dominates a sample that consistently, it is the honest headline for the property.
That matters more in Rome than it sounds. The historic centre has almost no tall buildings and the metro does not cross it, so an eighth-floor terrace is a genuinely scarce thing rather than a standard amenity. It also changes the shape of the day: breakfast stops being a basement queue.
Rooms — 45 of them, family rooms included
The smallest of the seven properties in this area, and the room list reflects a building that was not laid out as a chain hotel: family rooms and suites rather than a wall of standard doubles.
Two guests describe the rooms as larger than expected. The family rooms are the practical reason to look here if you are more than two — Rome is short of them, and 45 rooms means they go early.
Confirm the actual bed configuration rather than the room name, which is the standing advice for this city.
Facilities — the eighth floor does the work
Breakfast is served on the roof, and the same terrace runs as a bar in the evening. That single arrangement dominates the reviews: seven of twelve raise it, describing the city below, a sunset with a glass of prosecco, and stepping out onto the terrace mid-meal.
Eleven of twelve reviews mention breakfast. It is the highest share of any property in this comparison, and in a district where the streets around the station are not where you want to hunt for a café at seven in the morning, that matters.
A bar, a gym and a restaurant complete the list. What the roof buys is scarce in Rome — the historic centre has almost no tall buildings, so an eighth-floor terrace is not a standard amenity here.
Best for
- Wanting a view and a drink without leaving the building
- Couples and small families in a 45-room hotel
- Making breakfast part of the day rather than a queue
Not ideal if
- You want to walk to the Pantheon in fifteen minutes
- Facility scale and a large lobby matter to you
What the position gives and takes
| Distance | Rank among the Termini seven | |
|---|---|---|
| Roma Termini | 331m | fourth of seven |
| Colosseum | 1.67km | sixth |
| Pantheon | 2.04km | joint furthest |
| St Peter’s Basilica | 3.88km | sixth |
| Fiumicino Airport | 24.54km | — |
This is the trade to weigh. On Via Volturno, north of the station, it is close to the platforms and a long way from the things people fly to Rome to see. The Pantheon at 2.04km is a 25-minute walk, and St Peter’s is a metro ride.
If your Rome is built around walking the old city each morning, Centro Storico is doing you a favour and this is not. If your Rome is a base near the airport train with a rooftop to come back to, this is the specific reason to choose it over its neighbours.
Guests also note the position relative to the station itself — north of the bus terminal rather than on the forecourt, which several describe as a calmer setting than the immediate station side.
Before you book
- 45 rooms, four stars — the smallest of the seven in this area
- Family rooms and suites are listed. Rooms for three or more are scarce across Rome, so confirm the configuration rather than the label
- Check-in 14:00, check-out 11:00
- 8.8 from 2,750 reviews — a well-tested score rather than an early one
- City tax is charged at check-out and rises with the star rating, and is not in the price you booked (the detail is on the Italy page)
We have not stayed here; this summarises patterns across the guest reviews on the booking page, read on the date below. The seven are compared in hotels near Roma Termini.
FAQ
What is actually on the roof?
Breakfast is served on the eighth floor, and the same rooftop runs as a bar in the evening with a view over the city. Guests describe both, including sunsets from the terrace, which is why it dominates the reviews.
Is it a good base for the Vatican?
Not especially. St Peter's is 3.88km, the second furthest of the seven Termini stays. The Colosseum at 1.67km is also on the longer side for this area.
Is 45 rooms a problem at breakfast?
It is the smallest of the seven properties here, which generally means shorter queues rather than longer ones. Guests describe the rooftop breakfast positively rather than as a bottleneck.
Browse by theme
Other stays in this city
- Augusta Lucilla Palace Hotel — Built for Arriving With Luggage
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- c-hotels Fiume — Read the Distance Before the District Name
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- Camplus Hotel Roma Centro — Check the Check-out Before You Book
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- Camplus San Pietro — Scale the Vatican Side Does Not Otherwise Have
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- Colonna Palace Hotel — The Shortest Walk to the Pantheon in Rome
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- Donna Camilla Savelli — One of Two Hotels in the Whole Neighbourhood
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- Hotel Artemide — The Station and the Forum From One Address
On Via Nazionale, 636m from Termini and 1.19km from the Colosseum, scoring 9.2 with a spa attached.
- Hotel Damaso — A Three-Star Scoring Above the Five-Stars Around It
9.2 from a small sample, on Piazza della Cancelleria between Campo de' Fiori and Piazza Navona, and the only historic-centre stay here within walking reach of the Vatican.
- Hotel Della Conciliazione — Inside the Borgo, Not Beside It
618m from St Peter's on Borgo Pio, the pedestrian lane behind the colonnade, and the least isolated of the Vatican addresses here.
- Hotel Hiberia — The One That Can Actually Fit Your Party
Connecting rooms, family rooms, triples, twins, doubles and suites in one three-star, 903m from the Colosseum and 840m from the Pantheon.
- Hotel King — The Most-Tested Score on the Spanish Steps Side
1,619 reviews against 164 to 305 for its neighbours, on the street that runs down to the Spanish Steps.
- Hotel Nazionale — The Old City With a Guarded Square Outside
303m from the Pantheon on the parliament square, and the highest-scoring four-star in Rome's historic centre on this site.
- Hotel Pace Helvezia — The Address That Sits Between Two Romes
On Via IV Novembre, the seam between the historic centre and the Forum, with the earliest check-in of any Rome stay compared here.
- Hotel Nord Nuova Roma — The Trade Is Stated Openly in Its Reviews
295m from Termini with the deepest review sample in the area, where value and dated rooms are named in the same breath.
- Hotel Palazzo Manfredi — The Colosseum Is the Room
223m from the Colosseum in a 16-room five-star, where the view is the product and the room count is the constraint.
- Hotel Ripa Roma — The Flat Side of Trastevere, and the Bigger One
199 rooms near the river in a neighbourhood that otherwise offers apartments, with no hill between you and the lanes.
- Hotel Splendide Royal — Where the City Ends and the Park Begins
A 78-room five-star at the top of Via Veneto, backing onto the Villa Borghese gardens rather than the tourist grid.
- iQ Hotel Roma — The One That Is Not Furthest From Anything
The only Termini property that ranks in the top two for both the Colosseum and the Pantheon, with a sauna and self-service laundry behind it.
- NH Collection Palazzo Cinquecento — The Closest Address to the Airport Train
167m from Roma Termini, which is as close as this comparison gets, and a courtyard that guests say keeps the noise out.
- Quirinale Hotel — The Reviews Disagree, and the Disagreement Is Useful
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.
- SuiteSistina for Brave Lovers — Rooms, Not a Hotel
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 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.
