The apartment was in a good position to walk to see various sights and was well decorated. Unfortunately that is where our compliments end for this stay of 5 nights.
We were contacted by the host who requested 2 hours notice be sent to his mobile of our arrival time and he then sent us the lock box details. We complied and gave 3 hours notice of our arrival time as requested. The listing states on first page that it is a self check in with lock box entry, we arrived at exactly our stated time to find the building locked and no lock box in sight. After 10 minutes we sent host msg via Airbnb and also rang him on his mobile but had no response. Shortly after, someone left the building which allowed us to gain entry. Host has also stated that the apartment was on the second floor up stairway E, this proved quite difficult to find through a maze of staircases both up and down and after travelling for 24 hours we were exhausted and just wanted to get inside. In fact to get to the apartment you need to go up and down 70 steps in a very narrow stairwell at times, quite difficult if you have mobility issues and lugging cases. Eventually we found the apartment and the aforementioned lock box - but you still cannot get into the actual building to begin with so lock box is located in the wrong place for a self check in. Shortly thereafter a woman by the name of Rosaria arrived speaking Italian, multiple times we told her we don’t speak Italian and cannot understand her but she went on and on anyway and eventually left, we had no idea what she was telling us at all....she is not the host and we still don’t know who she was.
Once we were settled we found multiple issues - the apartment lists a full kitchen to cook in (including a stove) and this is not the case- it has 2 burners, 2 saucepans, very little utensils and no condiments (also listed as being supplied). Cooking oil, salt, pepper and spare garbage bags for the bin are the small items that we feel should be supplied, as travellers we cannot bring these items. Refrigerator is a small bar fridge only. We couldn’t have a shower without running out of hot water and there is a constant smell of sewage in the bathroom which at times was revolting. There is a small window in the apartment which has an outside light on the wall, transparent curtains on this window allow this light to shine into the apartment all night.
For 3 of the 5 nights we hardly slept due to the apartment directly opposite who had the washing machine and dryer on her verandah running from midnight to 3.30am, it bangs and rattles all night. We are of the opinion that this is her business as it also runs all day. As long term travellers we rely heavily on accurate reviews and found this listing to be far from that which left us very disappointed.