Hotel Due Torri - Bologna, Italy 

The hotel is very central to the town, with friendly staff, easy car parking in the streets nearby at 4Euros a day and a great gelateria close by. It is however, very small, with lots of mirrors everywhere to make the place look bigger. Steep stairs to the reception on the first floor, and even more to our third floor room. There is no lift and anyone with a handicap should be aware of this. There was no porter available to help us with our suitcases. Fire evacuation could prove very difficult.

I was horrified with this hotel. Although in a central area, I would never stay here. The entrance to the hotel reminded me of a run-down pensione showcasing both broken mirrors and pottery. Macabre Christmas lighting intertwined with ancient, dusty fake ivy gave me the chills. The breakfast room looked like the entrance to a Sicilian funeral parlor. The room had beds with very old mattresses and the decor was gloomy and surreal. The window shutters were kept tightly closed to hide the depressing "view" on the run-down building across, but most probably to keep you away from the vitreous stare of the dead pigeon lying on the other side of the glass. I ran away after receiving a morbid glimpse of what my room could have been for three nights, and I happily upgraded my stay at the beautiful Hotel Novecento. The money was well spent.