What would you do for cheap lodging in Italy? I spent a night with nuns

Convents and monasteries have been offering shelter to pilgrims and travellers and people seeking a retreat from the world for centuries. And it’s still happening today. In Italy, and throughout Europe, there are religious communities providing a bed and simple hospitality to travellers.

The humble exterior of Casa per Ferie Madonna del Rosario.Credit: Monastery Stays

For anyone who knows me, staying in a convent might seem like a strange choice. Despite my 13 years’ education at a Catholic girls’ school, I’ve never believed in God nor had any religious feeling. The possibility of staying in a convent wouldn’t even have occurred to me, if not for my last-minute need to find somewhere affordable to stay for a weekend with an old friend in Florence.

Since 2006, the Monastery Stays website has made finding and booking a stay in a monastery, convent or church-owned guest house in Italy, Austria and Slovenia almost as easy as booking a hotel. In the back of my mind I have a fantasy of staying somewhere like the abbey in The Sound of Music, but sadly when I search for accommodation in Florence, the most beautiful and atmospheric convents listed on the website are already full or beyond our budget. The Casa per Ferie Madonna del Rosario, a modern guest house located in a quiet residential neighbourhood a short walk from the Arno river, has availability. I book a room.

I was picturing The Sound of Music, but it was more like my school.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

By the time my friend Anita and I arrive a week or so later, I’m having doubts. The guest house looks bland and institutional – the last place I want to stay is somewhere that reminds me of school. But the two young Filipina nuns who check us in are reassuringly calm and efficient. They smile, check our passports, hand us our keys and escort us to the elevator.

The foyer of Casa per Ferie Madonna del Rosario.Credit:

Although the nuns don’t seem curious about us, I’m very curious about them. The casa is run by the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, an order founded in the Philippines in 1982. Inspired by the life of the 12th-century ascetic Francis of Assisi, the sisters (and their fellow friars) follow his life and teachings, tending to the sick and poor and taking vows of chastity, obedience and poverty.

The casa is well-maintained, spacious and comfortable, but without any obvious luxuries. On the top floor of the 1970s three-storey building, our spotless room has the same white walls, tiled floors and timber finishes as the rest of the building. Simply furnished with a wardrobe, desk and bedside tables, the bright-green single bed-frames and floral bed-covers are the only note of colour. Large windows overlook the house’s walled garden, and as we open them the sound of church bells fills the room.

Simply furnished and comfortable, but without any obvious luxuries... Casa per Ferie Madonna del Rosario.Credit: Monastery Stays

Down the hallway there is a large, shared terrace with tables and chairs and, in one corner, rows of solar panels. From the terrace we can see a nun in full habit standing on her balcony, talking on a mobile phone, but as soon as she sees us she moves inside. We hardly encounter anyone else for the rest of our stay.

After dinner in the historic centre we return just before our 11.30pm curfew. It’s blissfully quiet. I don’t hear a thing until the next morning when, lying in bed, there’s a sound I can’t immediately identify. I get up and open the door to the hallway and listen. The nuns are singing, and their beautiful voices drift through the building like a siren song.

On our last morning, half asleep and listening to the morning choir, I start thinking about the religious women I have known. I realise I know almost nothing about the lives of the nuns who taught me, nor the experience of my parents’ siblings who also joined religious orders. Likewise, the lives of the nuns at the casa are a mystery to me.

Out and about in Florence: Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral.Credit: iStock

The whole experience is a little unsettling. Although we had two restful nights in comfort, I feel a strange sense of dislocation. The church bells, the singing … the disappearing nun! The real life of this convent feels just out of sight, something guests may catch a brief glimpse of but never really know. We found a brief respite but, like centuries of travellers before us, we were only ever just passing through.

The details

Stay
Monastery Stays lists 15 properties in Florence offering a range of accommodation types, pricing, inclusions and conditions. Some residences have nightly curfews. Rooms at Casa per Ferie Madonna del Rosario start from €40 ($65) a person and include a basic breakfast. See monasterystays.com

Tour
Florence is home to some of Italy’s greatest renaissance buildings and art galleries, including the Uffizi Gallery, the Accademia, Pitti Palace and many more. City passes, from €50, offer entry to a range of museums and a host of other benefits. See firenzepass.com

More
feelflorence.it/en

The writer travelled at her own expense.