The apartment was beautifully decorated, quiet and comfortable, just as I had expected. Mariella was going out to the theatre but we managed to meet up before and she was very kind and helpful. Her home is ideally situated right at the end of Ortigia so near lots of sights, but not noisy or too hot. If you want something fast to eat, there is a takeout pizza place just a few doors down. We did have difficulty with parking although Mariella took our rental car license down so that we could use resident parking (the island apparently closes to outside traffic after 8 pm). There simply were no spaces to be found. We didn't want to pay the overnight parking in the Talete lot on Ortigia (it was expensive and not supervised anyway) so here's a tip for free parking - there were free spaces just before crossing the bridge on the mainland. We found one in the riva Forte Gallo. After that it's about a ten minute walk, the same as for Talete. If you are not traveling alone, you could drive through and drop off luggage before going to park. Thank you again Mariella! I'd love to come back and stay longer next time.