Study Abroad in Rome: Housing and Meals

Students share rooms in student apartments or are paying guests in a private Italian home. Accommodations are located in different areas of the city. Students receive meal vouchers to subsidize seven breakfasts and seven lunches or dinners per week at selected restaurants, cafés and food stores (except during trips).

Housing is a 30 to 45-minute direct bus or underground ride from the Richmond Study Center. Students should budget approximately 40 euros for an unlimited monthly pass on the bus and underground system.

Phones are not provided. Students can purchase a cell phone to share with roommates for approximately 55 euros or rent one locally for a reasonable cost.

Paying guest in an Italian home

Students have a double or single room in an apartment with a key so they can come and go as they wish. There is privacy for study and yet there is also a certain amount of contact with the Italian hosts. A large number of Italian apartments are occupied by a single person, so students are likely to be housed with a single woman or professional couple. Only a few housing arrangements are possible with families with young children. In many homes, students have use of the bedroom, bathroom and limited use of the kitchen. Italian hosts do not usually allow free use of the entire apartment. It is important to understand the differences between American hospitality to foreign students and renting a room from a host in Rome. Most Europeans provide housing to foreign students for commercial reasons. Students should not assume they will be included in the daily life of their Italian hosts. The fee is based on a twin bedded room shared with another AIFS student. Students with food allergies or special food requests must specify their needs on the application form.

Student Apartments

These are located in different areas of the city center, in buildings where other Italians live. By living in an Italian residence, AIFS students are exposed to an immersed Italian experience, participate in the local everyday life in Italy and establish relationships with other Italians in the building. Each apartment is privately owned and is unique in atmosphere, size, design, facilities, floor plan, and number of bedrooms. A typical apartment will be shared with 2-7 other AIFS students and contain a combination of double (2 students per room) or triple (3 students per room) bedrooms. Up to four students will share one bathroom, and all students share the kitchen, sitting area, and washing machine. Each apartment is equipped with: basic kitchen supplies, furnishings, blankets, two sets of sheets per student. Apartments are not equipped with: towels, telephones (students can rent a cell phone for a reasonable price), clothes dryers (Italians use clothes lines), Internet, air conditioning.

AIFS always arranges the best accommodation available for students. Changes in housing will be considered only in the event of health and safety issues.