We LOVED staying with Silvana, Gino and their daughter Serena. They are a lovely, warm, welcoming and very interesting family and made us feel very at home.

We fell in love with their place as soon as we got there and within 5 minutes were talking about how we could come back next year.

The view from the house is spectacular - a 180 panoramic of the sea. Behind, is a beautiful collection of hills which you can walk through on foot a little way. The house is right at the top of a big hill and it's wonderfully peaceful.

We loved our little apartment - it was great for relaxing in at any time of day and we really enjoyed being able to cook while looking out of the kitchen window at the sea.

Also, if you are into your food - look no further than their home "restaurant"!! We ate our way around the island (I was writing a food article) and we honestly thought their restaurant was the best!

Silvana, Gino and Serena were also great for inside knowledge of places to visit and eat.

And while they allowed us to get on with what we were doing, they also spotted that we liked to meet people from other countries and so invited us for drinks and nibbled on arrival!

We had lots of very interesting conversations with them about the island - it's culture, people and food. And we were even shown around the incredible cactus garden owned by their neighbour Penny, who is also very lovely.

Gino and Silvana also have a gorgeous swimming pool, although we spent our time on the clear, turquoise beaches just a 10min drive away.

There are loads of agritourism restaurants about the place, the local village of Scopello is well worth a visit and there is a fantastic local shop and cake shop selling all sorts of gorgeous things.

If you want a good base from which to explore the north west of the island, or whether your want to relax in a smaller area, we would definitely recommend Silvana and Gino's.

Thank you both for a wonderful few days.