Our stay at Artemisia's Antique Rooms at via della Fara, had definitely some issues. The apartment was ok, as it is shown at the photos, clean and spacious enough for us (2 adults and a baby). A parking permission is provided, that is a great plus for Citta Alta. Furthermore, Artemisia had the kindness to prepare a baby cot for our baby, which was very helpful to us. But despite all these, our stay was not as easy and convenient as we would expect.
First of all, there are many defficiencies at facilities and supplies. Only one piece of toilet paper provided (for the 3 of us, for 4 nights), 2 little soap bars, 2 little shampoo suckets, 2 set of towels and a dish washing liquid for the kitchen. No extra towels/bed linen (just in case they are needed), no extra toilet papers, no liquid soap at the bathroom, no paper napkins at the kitchen, no salt, pepper, oil, vinegar.. To be honest, all the apartments we had previously stayed, offer much more than those : a bottle of water, facilities and supplies for coffee and tea, shampoo, even a welcome treat (a few fruits or cookies). They do not cost much, and make us feel welcomed. On the contrary, they do a bad impression when missing.. After complaining about the supplies, we were brought the next day 2 more soaps, 2 more toilet papers and a set of paper napkins. But we had already bought ours of course..
Another issue that personnaly confused me a lot, is the communication. During the time of booking, I was communicating directly with Artemisia. Shortly before our arrival, I started receiving text messages at my mobile from another person (who never introduced him/her-self, nor did Artemisia). I realized that was one of her partner. After that, a third person came and shown us the apartment at the arrival.. Ok, these things happen. However usually the owner, who is after all the official host, informs the guests that he/she won't be available, that he/she is sorry and introduces his/her partners.. This is not a great matter, but makes the difference. Otherwise (and this is our case), the whole matter ends up impersonal and the stay very indifferent. It should be noted as well that beside the number of partners, and the kindness of the only one that we saw in person (the one that we did the check-in with), no one gave as info and tips about the area, where to go, what to see, what trips we may do etc. I realized that if we had something to ask, they were available to answer, but they had no suggestions by themselves as other hosts do.
Finally, something that really bothered us a lot, is the matter of parking. Upon arrival, we were told that we may park outside the building, as "residents" of the building, and that police would be informed by them for our vehicle number. Two days later, after a desperate attempt to find parking at a higher level of citta alta, we communicated the "text" partner in order to ask if the residential permission is valid for other streets of citta alta as well or only for ours. He/she immediatly replied that we could park wherever there is the sign CA1. This is a valuable plus, but should't we have known it earlier? And finally, when I was making the home for our check-out at our last day, I realized that in the bag with the extra supplies that was sent to us the second day, there was a written parking permission for our vehicle for the time period of our stay. What is this? Why nobody told us earlier that we have such a document? Should we have had it with us all the previous days? No idea..
Well.. The apartment is ok. With a few issues that are difficult or impossible to change (like the condition and the smell of the rest building, the lack of soundproofing with the neighbouring pizzeria, the steep walk to the points of interest at Citta Alta etc), but generally ok. If the rest was ok, we wouldn't have problem. But all the above mentioned, disappointed us and made our stay a bit inconvenient. This is our honest experience, and we hope that it may serve to future improvements.