Villa Cincinla is truly a wonderful place, and was a great base for my son and I to explore Sicily. The house is wonderfully laid out, feels nearly new with high quality fittings, and was immaculately clean. The view is exactly as you see it in the photos--sensational. Although the autostrada is a little ways up the hill, it's not at all noticeable, and the main sounds are waves breaking far below, wind in the trees, doves cooing, and occasional braying from the donkeys that live across the street. Pretty close to paradise!

Margherita, who let us in and showed us how everything worked, was very helpful and nice. The town of Cefalu is 15 minutes from the house and has everything you might need, plus a lovely medieval center and cathedral. We hiked to the top of "the Rock" (the prominent point seen from the villa) for a fabulous view both up and down the coast and the picturesque ruins of a Norman castle and a temple to Diana. Sant'Ambrogio is about 5 minutes by car and is also a pretty (and tiny) old town; we spent less time there, as some businesses are only open in summer. The Madonie Mountains are very close and are not to be missed--take the back roads and wander through forests, rugged peaks, farm lands, and charming villages that are completely authentic, not just putting on a show for tourists! We also took the "back way" through Parco Nebrodi to Taormina... again, highly recommended to get off the autostrada and experience a little adventure. So much is close to the villa that you could spend a week just exploring the area and relaxing, but there is much to see in Sicily and the location is nice and central. You can't go wrong.

When we were planning our trip, I considered staying a few nights in Palermo and a few nights here, but I'm really glad we decided to spend the entire time at Villa Cincinla. Palermo was a lot of fun to visit, but is a bit of a sensory barrage and can be overwhelming at first. The villa is gorgeous, peaceful, and convenient to everything. I definitely intend to come back and stay again.