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Our three-night stay in this beautiful place was perfect: a large and comfortable room with stunning views, a modern bathroom with a walk-in shower, a kind and friendly staff, and easy walking distance to Assisi’s most important historic sites. We had been browsing Assisi hotels on TripAdvisor for more than a year, trying to find a recommended hotel which could provide a quiet refuge as well as proximity to the train station, since we would be traveling through Italy by train. When we read the reviews of Hotel Ideale, and especially when we browsed the hotel’s web site and saw the spectacular views from the upper rooms, we knew that this was indeed the “ideal” hotel. We booked six months in advance in order to ensure a queen room with a balcony, and we received an immediate e-mail confirming our reservation. When the hotel staff learned that we would be arriving by train on March 30, they kindly sent an e-mail message asking if we would like a taxi to meet us at the station to drive us to the hotel. They even specified that the taxi driver would be a young man named Lorenzo and that he would meet us outside the station when our train arrived in Assisi. On the day we arrived, there was Lorenzo waiting for us, and he even carried our bags up to our room once we were inside the hotel. He was a helpful and engaging young man, and his English was excellent.||There were 33 steps leading from the hotel reception on the ground floor to room 31, which was our room. We had no trouble at all climbing the stairs (there is no elevator), and the climb was certainly worth the reward: we stepped from the bedroom onto the balcony to find sweeping, breath-taking views of Assisi. Later in the day, we had a knock at the door from Mario, a family member who wanted to say hello and to ask if we were enjoying our stay. We were impressed by personal touches such as this.||Breakfast each morning was brought to us on a tray by one the elder members of the family: a delightful, gregarious man (whom we affectionately referred to as Grand-Papa) who lovingly attended to our every need as if we were his own family. The breakfast was such a work of art that we were reluctant to dip our knives and forks into it, but dip we did! The tray displayed a large cream-filled croissant, fresh fruit, slices of meat and cheese, bread, yogurt, and a generous slice of a homemade fruit tart. Orange juice and coffee were brought to the table as well.||We walked everywhere in Assisi and enjoyed the labyrinth of medieval streets, but certainly one of the most beautiful things we saw was the sunset from our balcony each evening.||We used Lorenzo’s taxi service to return to the train station when we left Assisi, but there are also buses which connect the station to Piazza Matteotti, which is just around the corner from the hotel. The bus may have been a less expensive way to travel from the hotel to the station, but we considered the taxi well worth the extra cost, since it took us promptly from door to door without having to board a bus with luggage.||Grazie mille to everyone at Hotel Ideale who made our stay so pleasant and memorable.||William McLoughlin in Columbus, Ohio, USA
