Student's Hostel Della Ghiara

I will say this in english because I do not have the words in Italian to describe how offended I felt as a student staying here during my study abroad in Reggio. Is this place good if you need to stay one night. Sure, but for any longer as a foreigner you don't feel welcomed and despite barely providing basic hostel services you are treated by the staff as a nuisance and inconvenience. Despite our university having told us this is a student hostel coming in, everyone staying here seems to be a permanent resident, generally single men aged 30-60. It's an absolute lie that this is a safe place for women. My trip had around 20 girls all aged 18-21 and there were on almost a weekly basis incidences where other male guests were behaving in an inappropriate manor towards them, including going into women's bathrooms while women were present. I am not sure if this is only cutomary in the US at temporary residences but the cleaning staff would barge into my room in the morning as I was not properly covered because they couldn't seem to wait to change sheets, towels, etc. Maybe that's normal here in Italy, but as a foreigner it made me uncomfortable and once again I was spoken to rudely for being in my own room. There is a plethora of other problems that happened while I was here but my experience here at the hostel has made Italy the first country I've ever been to in Europe that I leave with bad taste. If you are a foreigner on vacation or studying in Italy, I strongly recommend finding another place to stay.

Staff were really helpful. The atmosphere was very relaxed and quiet. This was a completely spur-of-the-moment trip, and I was very happy I made it.