We spent 5 glorious days in this home, using a car to explore some of the areas surrounding Rome (Ostia Antica, Cerveteri, Palestrina, etc.). The location, first of all, is perfect. It is quite easy to access the GRA (ring road around Rome), but you are far enough into the countryside to enjoy the peace and quiet. Everything that you need can be found in the nearby town of La Storta. The only difficulty in the location is that GPS seems to have a mental block concerning the location--we ended up just mapping everything using the nearby tennis club as our home point, because otherwise we'd end up with REALLY strange directions. Our hostess, luckily, had warned us about this issue, so we were prepared.
The property itself is simply gorgeous. This rental, so far as I can tell, is about 1/3 of a much larger house, but it has been divided up in such a way that you don't feel the presence of the neighbors--walls are thick, there are hedges and fences dividing the areas, and each portion of the building has its own yard, drive, etc. There are two friendly dogs next door, one of whom kept escaping to come and visit us, which was delightful for our son.
We really loved having all the orange and olive trees, and fresh garden herbs (took advantage of some sage and rosemary in our cooking). They also made the place really lovely and welcoming. When all the shutters are open, there are huge french doors that look over everything, so the place is filled with light. The kitchen is roomy and welcoming, a great place to cook dinner for a big group.
This was a place for a mini family reunion for us: we were 4 adults and 1 child in all. We could have also easily accomodated my sister's family, with 2 additional adults and 2 children. There's a huge family bedroom upstairs, plus two smaller ones. One smaller bedroom is ensuite, and the other two share a full bathroom. Downstairs there are two additional bedrooms that share a bathroom. All the beds we used were quite comfortable, and there were nice touches like hair dryers in every bathroom. Similarly, the kitchen was extremely well equipped.
There is ample space at the dining table and in the living room for a crowd, and in nice weather, the patio can accommodate a large group as well. We had some rain, so the stock of umbrellas for guests came in handy, as did the decks of cards and board games. Our hostess was out of the country during our visit, but kept in contact via email and text.