Seeking a short city break in Bologna, we chose Airbnb as it seemed to promise a greater feeling of being resident than the ‘formality’ of an hotel. Looking through the list of available properties Raffaella’s apartment seemed to offer everything we sought, perfectly located and very well thought of by previous guests. Our first online exchange with Raffaella simply strengthened that belief.
We are far from fluent in Italian, so showed the given address to the taxi driver, who dropped us at the wrong end of the, fortunately short, street and indicated the wrong building. Receiving no response to a porters bell we texted Raffaella who said she would come down immediately. We met in the street and she greeted us so warmly.
The apartment itself was even better than the photographs suggested, to our taste, brilliantly designed and furnished with everything you would need, even down to a coffee machine!
Welcomed by Raffaella and Gianni who quickly explained everything we needed to know about the functioning of the apartment. We felt at home at once. As soon as they left we unpacked and went to Gamberini’s (her first recommendation), immediately opposite the building, probably the best pasticceria in a city rich in fine catering, for a refreshing light lunch. It was a beautiful start to a break that entirely fulfilled that early promise.
The apartment is perfectly located, with an indoor food market just round the corner with lovely fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese, meats, bread and there are also lots of restaurants, cafes, bars, or whatever you need on the doorstep.
We cannot speak too highly of Raffaella’s involvement; organised, discrete, but always contactable if needed, and if so, quickly responsive. A striking example of this was her response to our concern on arrival about getting back to the airport for our return flight at 06:25 a.m. We asked about taxi’s at that time of the morning and Raffaella immediately arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 04:30 a.m. She also said she would text us to confirm the taxi’s arrival on the departure day. She was, of course, as good as her word and texted at 04:26 to say it was arriving!
We long to return to this city and this fantastic apartment and would certainly recommend it highly.