Ok, so after spending the first night in a fleabag off Piazza Prenestina or Via Prenestina... stay away. I found these guys. They work at Non c'e trippa Pa Gatti- a restaurant on Via Urbana in the Palentine... their boss Lucia (pronounced Luchia) rents beautiful rooms across the street for 50 Euros a night... not bad- and very central, and you'll be in the nexus of a few streets that are very Roman. Romans go here... they eat here and congregate here... down the street at Piazza Maria dei Monte and at the cafes and trattorias around here. Urbana and Via Serpenti are beautiful oldstreets with fabrication, design and craft shops, jewelry and clothes makers. Less touristy than the area around Novona, and less upscale than Trastevere- I was happy here, and you'll see Romani di Roma- the Romans of Rome- in their element.