It’s actually with heavy heart I write this review, especially after reading all the other reviews.
My wife and I have been backpacking all over the world, getting used to different amenities at different budgets. Now, we have a little daughter and are prepared for spending a few more pennies on our accommodation just to have the basics right. So, when we decided to travel Sicily for a month, Alessandra’s place sounded just perfect…
After arriving, the plantation seemed quite overgrown in general, including our garden area. It was said that this was due to the first heavy rain this year. The grounds were then being tided as we were there (possibly from the cash that we fetched in), which meant it was quite noisy.
Within the house it was rather dark and the first days we had loads of rain, which came through the doors into the house and made the house quite humid. In consequence, we had an arrival of a multitude of millepedes (we collected ~30 on one day) climbing up the walls, crawling on the floor and on some furniture (including baby cot). Alessandra responded to this by spraying poison on the outside off the door and window frames, which is not so convenient if your toddler crawles around on the floor.
There were several other things that were not right, which she reacted to immediately, because she actually lives in the same building (which is not mentioned anywhere).
The “pebble” beach was an absolute mess, as was the whole area of Carruba, where the ash of Etna was just collected in plastic bags and dumped everywhere. Obviously this is not Alessandra‘s fault, but we imagined something else when we read the description of the beach and surrounding areas.
The internet has some sort of booster or stabiliser on it (placed in the main bedroom), which makes a loud bleeping noise through the night. After consulting Alessandra about it, she put it in a draw.
To wrap up this review, which is meant just to manage expectations, there’s a difference between having amazing views over the ocean and on Mt Etna and an actual great location.
The last note: we left early.