We stayed at Alida and Vincenzo‘s place for over a month in winter, worked remotely in sunny Sicily. Had our dog with us who enjoyed the enormous fenced garden (more like a park) tremendously — we enjoyed it too, picked lemons and Mandarins walked through the olive grove, watched the sun set over Etna. Even discovered that from the farthest corner of the garden we could see the sea!
The house is somehow very close to everything (beach, supermarket- all less than 10 minutes drive, Taormina -15 minutes away) and tucked away in the hills. It’s next to the highway, but just as we’d read in the other reviews, we couldn’t hear the cars from the house, couldn’t see the road from the garden and the sound didn’t bother us at all, we’d barely notice it, the birds‘ singing was much louder. The owner’s house is on the adjacent plot of land downhill, behind the fence, so Alida was always available for any help we needed, yet we had complete privacy at the same time. We went to Alida‘s house to use the washing machine, to pick up wood for the fireplace and of course to talk to Alida who was always very helpful and supportive - she went with us to the mechanic when we needed to check the car, helped me make marmalade from the lemons in the garden, explained where everything was and gave advice on where to find everything. Alida and Vincenzo‘s dog Pepe is also very sweet playful.
The house we stayed in had everything we needed (except an oven, perhaps - we didn’t end up needing it, but if we had we could’ve asked Alida to use hers), the wifi generally worked well enough for video conferences and streaming, the fireplace kept the living room warm and the bedroom had a very very warm blanket so we weren’t cold at night.
The only thing we had to get used to is the shower - the water boiler is very small and hot showers had to be kept shorter than we’re used to.
We had a wonderful time staying at the house and garden on weekdays and exploring the coast on the weekends! Very glad we’d chosen Alida‘s place.