How to Find Student Accommodation in Rome

Coming to Rome as a student is insanely exciting.

The city! The language! The food! The… lease?

Unfortunately, Roman leases are not exactly short-term friendly.  Jimmy and I currently have a 3+2 lease, meaning a three-year lease that automatically renews for two additional years if neither party objects. But the most common lease in Italy is a 4+4 … an EIGHT YEAR lease.  Honestly, signing this was one of the most stressful things we have ever done as a couple.

When I first came to Italy for graduate school, and I was only planning to stay for a year, I had no idea how the rental market worked and definitely didn’t know how to find student accommodation in Rome.

In addition to the problem with the length of the lease, I also didn’t speak Italian and I couldn’t travel to see places in person.

Then, add to that that I had no idea how to pay bills in Italy (spoiler: it is terrible and requires long trips to the dreaded Italian post office). PLUS, I was going to have to set up new things like internet?? More contracts!

After all the visa hoop jumping, finding student accommodation in Rome was literally the most stressful thing about moving to Italy.

Here’s what you should know about finding student accommodation in Rome:

  1. Short leases are not the norm. You have to be able to find a landlord who is will to do a short term let. For example, all of the rooms on Uniplaces includes the details of the rental terms, including if the property will accept stays as short as two weeks! But you can obviously stay longer. On the website, each property has a calendar where you can see the availability of that room/apartment, according to the landlord, so you don’t waste time contacting people about rooms or apartments that don’t fit with your timing.
  2. Some apartments in Rome come completely unfurnished. Browse photos so you know what you are getting into. If you are coming to Italy to study, you probably don’t want to spend time (and money) tracking down furniture for a shorter-term stay. Try to limit your search to fully furnished rooms/apartments to make the settling in period a whole lot easier.
  3. If you are on a budget, look for a double room. Coming with a friend? Or willing to share a room with someone else to save on rent? It is pretty normal for some student accommodation in Rome to come with two double beds (almost dorm style). However, if you prefer your own room, that’s totally doable too. A shared room can start around €350, and the budget for a single room is closer to €550 on average. Of course, this depends on where the student housing is located because…
  4. Location matters. As with all things, housing location is going to impact the price of your student accommodation in Rome. When I moved to Rome, I took an apartment near the main university. Smart thinking! EXCEPT, my own university was on the other side of town… whoops. Uniplaces allows you select your own university from the dropdown menu so you can see how far away the accommodation is. In a city that is not exactly famous for its public transportation, you want to consider location fairly seriously to ensure that you can get to school and also easily access all of the interesting places that Rome as a city has to offer.
  5. Bills. Bills. Rent is not the only expense you have to look out for when looking for a room to rent in Rome. Italian bills are not cheap. Bills are also often simply estimated based on the previous occupant’s usage. So when I took over a flat that used to be lived in by three people, my first bill was triple what it should have been! It can take ages to sort out, so if you are coming to Rome for a short time, you will save yourself a lot of headaches by finding a price that is “all included” so that you don’t have to worry about paying bills separately.
  6. Living with a local can be the best way to learn Italian. I always tell people that the best way to learn Italian is either to date one or to live with one. Seeking out a room in a local apartment can be one of the best things about being a student in Rome. I lived alone when I came to Rome and this was great for studying for my Masters but it definitely didn’t help me learn Italian any faster. Plus, living with locals is like having a built in city guide and can really help with getting settled.
  1. You have to look out for scams. My one public service announcement would be: please do not use craigslist to find student accommodation in Rome. I use craigslist all the time in the US, but in Rome it seems to be full of scams. Uniplaces chooses the landlords it works with very carefully, so you have some peace of mind when trying to book housing from out of the country.

 

Rome is an incredible place to study abroad, you just need to sort out that pesky apartment first.  I honestly wish that a service like Uniplaces had been available when I was looking for student accommodation in Rome because it makes the process so much more straightforward.

No eight year leases required.

Buildings on the Amalfi coast

 

Many thanks to Uniplaces for partnering on this post!

6 thoughts on “How to Find Student Accommodation in Rome

  1. Gisella says:

    This is quite an informative post. I agree, moving to a new place can be very stressful indeed, especially if you’re a student with limited funds. And yeah, I’ve heard of horror stories about craigslist in other countries. Kudos to you for surviving the hassle. ^_^

    • Natalie says:

      Yes! I used craigslist for literally every move I ever did in California, but it is a nightmare here. Cheers to make it through!

  2. Abigail says:

    All of this is great advice! I was lucky enough to have an apartment found for me when I studied abroad but that also meant I was paying my American university’s (much) higher tuition because of it.
    Your note about paying the bills is also so true. I just had to pay an “estimated” heating bill to cover costs until they figure out our actual usage and then maybe we’ll see some of that back.. the inefficiencies of this country never end but it’s worth it in the end, isn’t it?

    • Natalie says:

      AHHH! I the bills! I am still scarred by the first €350 gas bill I ever opened. It takes FOREVER for them to figure out the real usage, and I swear they don’t ever adjust it appropriately. My Roman university didn’t help with housing so this was definitely a “learn by first failing” post.

  3. Antonio says:

    I must say Uniplaces is a terrible place to look for rooms in my opinion. It’s incredibly overpriced. You can find single rooms in Rome for students starting on the 300 euros depending on the area. On Uniplaces you cannot find those prices!Plus, you’re not allowed to visit the room before so you’re just stuck with the pictures.
    Check in the internet, there’s websites exclusively just for renting, check facebook groups and check at the university. There’s usually ads on the student’s association or at the city ESN in Sapienza Uni.
    I would say the average price for a room is 350 for a room, closer you go to the centre, more expensive it is, but fortunately not all Uni are in the centre. I think the best place for a student to live and where he can find more should be around Re di Rome or Piazza Bologna or Castro Pretorio, preferentially close to metro line

  4. Yilmaz says:

    I used Erasmusinn.com to find accommodation. They seem to be similar a site to Uniplaces. Online booking sites really do save time.

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