Francesca’s apartment was a good base of operations for our stay in Taormina. Francesca was responsive to our questions leading up to our visit. During our visit, her brother-in-law Marco (who lives a few doors from the apartment) provided very responsive advice and answers to questions we had about the apartment, local sights and restaurants. And Francesca’s dad Nino (who lives next door) provided some very welcome vegetables from his garden! The apartment is as pictured in the airbnb listing and is 10 minutes walking distance from the historic center of Taormina. The kitchen is very well equipped and the apartment is large and very well arranged and decorated with access to the deck from every room. There are nice ocean views and seating on the deck. The town of Taormina is a good place for walking and exploring with nice walks/hikes to the beaches at Isola Bella and Mazzaro, Castelmola, Castello Saraceno, and other sights within the town. There is an excellent weekday + Saturday market (vegetables, meat, fish) along the walk to town, though you will need to ask for directions since it is a bit hard to find. Our favorite restaurant in Taormina (by far) was Le Naumachie Ristorante which serves outstanding seafood and pasta dishes and wine. We also really enjoyed Timoleone Cafe and Napoletana pizzeria.
A final note of caution about driving and walking within Taormina: After a crazy taxi ride from the train station to the apartment, we reluctantly decided against driving a rental car due to very, very narrow streets and very challenging driving conditions (e.g. during the 15 minute taxi ride to the apartment our seemingly mid-mannered, elderly taxi driver got into several screaming matches with other drivers while trying to navigate though 2-way streets with places barely wide enough for one car). Even walking within Taormina can be a challenge due to the narrow streets and drivers driving at high speeds while often within inches of pedestrians. Having no rental car made it harder to get to locations outside of Taormina and the constant need to watch out for cars and motorcycles was an unexpected and unpleasant distraction.