From your first excited glimpse until your last departing glance - this place will fill you with joy. It’s amazing. A beautifully restored 18th century residence of the family of Prince Gravina of Patagonia; we loved every minute of our time here.
Francesca and Rosanna were fabulous hosts. Easy and pleasant to communicate with and forthcoming with good advice.
The photos don’t go anywhere to capturing the beauty and functionality of living here. The space is huge. The amenities are top and it’s scrupulously clean- it’s a total delight to stay here.
There’s a dedicated parking in a beautiful garden. The entrance to the building is magnificent and the internal staircases and corridors are right from a museum. Take the stairs - the lift denies you the opportunity to repeatedly absorb the beauty. The apartment is on the second floor.
Inside the apartment is wow. A stunning room with wall and ceiling frescoes with a fully equipped kitchen and six seater dining table. There’s a sofa in this room. Perhaps it’s a sofa couch? We didn’t check. A floor level shuttered balcony out to the street. Great to people watch from.
Next door is the main living area with the bedroom on the mezzanine above. Stunning. The bed is extremely comfortable. There’s a bureau and two sofas and tv. Off the main living area is the bathroom. The shower is awesome.
The WiFi was operating at 300mbps. That’s dizzyingly fast for us - I can only imagine the same for others.
Security. It’s so safe. Layer on layer and the apartment door has a triple locked security door that seemed it could withstand an elephant charging - and definitely a battering ram of the awesome beams holding up the roof in the living area/mezzanine. We felt totally safe in any case, but be reassured if that’s important to you.
There are so many places around to eat and/or buy groceries. The fish monger a few shops down from the apartment had fabulous produce and there are vegetable shops and the likes around. Just next door is a great place for breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee, gelato...or just a drink. All bases covered. There’s LIDL 100m or so away if needed.
Do not miss eating - really you mustn’t - from Cerino D'Oro at Corso Calatafimi, 240. It’s a few hundred metres down the street from the apartment. It sells roast chicken and pizza. The pizza is excellent but it is the roast chicken with roast potatoes that is exceptional. As one Sicilian person in the queue said to us as we were deliberating in English what to choose said, “so, you know Nando’s right? Well this is nothing like Nando’s.” It is nothing like Nando’s and nothing like any roast chicken most of us have ever eaten.
The historic centre is a 15 min trip away on the bus - it stops right outside - or you can walk in 25/30 mins. There is plenty on the way to distract. If you have specific places in town you’re targeting there are other bus/tram options from stops that are 4 minutes walk from the apartment.
Our stay was fabulous. Highly recommended and we will be back next time we are in Palermo.
Thank you Francesca and Rossana.