Wow … what a place! And what a great host too. Renato was in touch with us throughout in a friendly and charming way and gave us all sorts of information and suggestions about staying at his lovely property. He was also really flexible and accommodating when we were troubled by cancelled ferries.
Casa Marco Polo is situated at the absolute waterfront end of town, where classic white Aeolian-style residential properties cling to the edge of black lava cliffs. Wonderfully quiet in the Spring, you are only disturbed by tweeting sparrows and the occasional boom of the looming volcano right behind you.
Surprisingly large, it is an incredibly flexible house with a large pillared terrace facing the town (great for breakfast!), a very spacious interior and a further smaller terrace that’s right on the water for a nice sea breeze. Renato’s style is casual, rustic and eccentric in a very cool way that is perfect for this vintage space. Print off the letter he will send you, as this will help greatly with finding things and solving any problems.
Top Tip: turning right out of the villa (away from the town centre), the alley will lead to the easiest route up the volcano, with big wide bends. That will take you to the Observatory restaurant and your first sight of the volcano. Take more easy hairpins up to the 290m point with wooden guard rails for a fantastic view of the action. You can only go further to 400m with a guide and please note that the old route right to the top is no longer open! With a long lens you can still get fantastic shots - especially with a tripod and long exposures.
But whatever, you best base for exploring - or just chilling - on this smoking jewel of an island is Casa Marco Polo!