Initially we thought Francesco's place was fine and a decent value for the money. However, on our last night at the apartment, while we were asleep, a group of people entered our apartment. They had been given the keys to our apartment moments earlier by the caretaker lady. They were a family with a small child and apparently had booked the apartment for the next day and Francesco told them that they could check in early when they indicated they would arrive in the middle of the night. He did not communicate any of this to us. We attempted to call Francesco and message him on the Airbnb app and he was not available to us or the other party during this emergency. My friend and I are two females and after that intrusion, did not feel safe in the apartment anymore. When we were finally able to contact Francesco the next morning, he dismissed our safety concerns and said that the people who had been given the keys and entered while we were asleep were a family. If keys were given to a family, who else could they have been given to?
Other issues:
1. During check in we went to drop off our bags. The reservation indicated we could check in at 1pm. We arrived then and the cleaners were still there. They told us we could come back at 1.30pm. The caretaker lady told us not to come back until 2pm.
2.. While the apartment was satisfactory in terms of cleanliness, the smell of cigarette smoke in the hallway was overwhelming. The caretaker lady greeted us while holding a lit cigarette and flicked ashes on our luggage.
3. When we arrived we were told we had to turn the air conditioning off when we left which we found completely acceptable. We were also told we were not allowed to use the air conditioning at night because it drips water onto the sidewalk and the people below complain to the caretaker lady and therefore it was not allowed because she did not want to deal with the complaining.
Despite what the reviews said about the neighborhood, we had no issues with it and found it to be safe and centrally located.
We would gladly give a good review and would have if the keys to our apartment had not been given to strangers in the middle of the night without our knowledge or consent. No attempt to contact us and confirm whether these were friends of ours or not was made. If you were sleeping at your house and someone you did not know entered your bedroom at 2am, you also would feel unsafe.