Giovanni’s place is very large and very charming. It has spectacular tiled floors, high ceilings, and all sorts of vintage objects placed around for decor. It feels like a classic grand apartment of old Palermo and is literally almost large enough to get lost in.
The location is excellent: a piazza behind a large old church, very central but just far enough from the super-touristed areas to feel local. The entrance to the building is through a pair of giant wooden doors leading to a large courtyard that features a huge ancient tree at its center.
The apartment was very clean and everything worked well, including the WiFi. The two A/C units work very well. The absence of a TV is very welcome and helps maintain the classic feel of the place. Be aware that all the windows are curtained and face adjacent walls, so there is not much natural light.
Giovanni is very friendly and charming. He does not speak a single word of English, which is a bit odd since his bio lists English as one of his languages and says that he lives (or lived) in London. Before I arrived, I asked him twice about the best way to get from the airport to the apartment, and received the replies “a dopo” (“later”) and “certo, a presto” (“sure, see you soon”). He also didn’t reply when I asked him where I should leave the keys when we departed.
But these were pretty minor communication lapses. Giovanni was warm and welcoming when I arrived, tired and frustrated, with my luggage missing due to an airport strike. He and several friends were at a table at the restaurant just outside the apartment, and soon I had a glass of wine and some excellent food—the perfect antidote to the chaos and incompetence of the Palermo airport. One of Giovanni’s friends speaks some English and was very helpful with local recommendations. Giovanni gave very good recommendations also—in Italian, of course.
So if you don’t speak Italian, plan to use G__gle Translate for communication, and be ready to hear shouts and music late at night from the restaurant downstairs. If you’re cool with those small caveats, you’ll find this to be a distinctive, sophisticated, and huge living space that is a calm and mostly quiet refuge in the heart of noisy Palermo. I definitely recommend it.