Where We Stayed: La Casa Rossa Apartments, Verona

This was a one-bedroom apartment in the historic center of Verona. It is one of two in the building owned by the same landlady.

We were in the garden-level apartment. It has an open floor plan with the living, kitchen, and dining areas in the same space. The bathroom is off to the side, so if someone wants to go from the bedroom to the bathroom, they don't have to go past whoever is sleeping on the sofa bed. Like the apartment in Milan, it is sized more like a "big-city" apartment in the United States, but it was enough room for us and more spacious than a hotel room.

The front windows of the garden-level apartment look right out on the sidewalk. There are shutters and one-way glass for privacy, though. We actually tested the one-way glass and it worked pretty well; someone would have to stand still and really peer in to see anything. The street is also pretty quiet, so we weren't bothered by privacy or traffic issues.

Anyone who read my earlier posts might remember that Verona was the stop where we had trouble with the washing machine. The landlady said she was going to have it checked out. If you're considering this apartment and are hoping to do laundry, be sure to follow up on that situation. It would also be helpful to have instructions for the washer in the apartment; although it had seemed fairly straightforward to me, I started second-guessing myself once I saw the washer wasn't working properly.

We noticed that the apartment seemed humid. Part of that might have been from the wet laundry in the apartment. Part of it might be because the apartment is at garden level. Also, precisely because we were at garden level, we closed the windows when we weren't in the apartment, which was good for security, but bad for letting in fresh air.

The landlady, Giaele, was helpful. She even brought in a few toys for my daughter to play with during our stay, which we really appreciated. She also has some books and pamphlets on area attractions in the apartment.

Overall, we were happy with the apartment, even with the laundry mishaps. In general, I think it is kid-friendly. However, I am not sure if the location is kid-friendly. There wasn't a good place for outdoor play nearby, and the walk to the supermarket is a bit far with a young kid. That said, this might be the situation throughout the historic center. If that's the case, families would need to decide for themselves if the proximity to attractions outweighs the drawbacks I mentioned.

Bathroom: shower stall
Blow dryer: yes
Breakfast: on our own. There is a café that sells pastries a couple of blocks away. There is a mini-market a few blocks away, but it seemed to be closed when we needed it; maybe we just had bad luck. There is a very nice PAM supermarket, but it is about a 15-minute walk away.
Elevator: no, but our apartment was at garden level, so it was just a few steps down from the entry
Internet: free wifi. It worked in the bedroom only. Sometimes I had difficulty getting online. This seemed to happen when my husband was already online, so maybe it was something about having 2 devices use the wifi.
Nearest playground: not sure. We did a good amount of walking, and while we did see a couple of green spaces, we never saw any playground equipment. We didn't see anything on the map, so we're guessing that there aren't any in the historic center of the city.
Recommend to families with young kids: yes, if the location works for you
Recommend to people without kids: yes
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lacasarossavr/