We stayed at Matteo & Pino's place in Copacabana for 8 nights during Carnival. The location was fantastic and one block from the beach. There are several shops, supermarkets, juice bars, Starbucks, McDonalds all within a 2 minute walk from the apartment. The building was also very secure which helped to ease initial concerns about safety in Rio as there is a reputation about Rio being a dangerous area. During our stay in Rio, we found the local people to be very friendly and welcoming and there was no instance in Copacabana where we felt unsafe.
On the first couple of nights there were a few issues with the apartment (such as the bath water not draining and flooding the floor, and one of the beds broke). However these issues were resolved very promptly by the hosts with no major inconvenience to our party which allowed us to enjoy the rest of the holiday. The apartment had everything we required and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here.
Matteo and Pino were also very helpful in giving us advice as non-Portuguese speakers on places to go and activities to do. As hosts, they were fantastic and made our holiday in Rio so enjoyable.
Rio is an amazing city and I would definitely love to return here one day soon. When I do return to Rio I will be looking them up and would not hesitate to book an apartment through Matteo & Pino again.