We stayed at Dan's parent's house for two nights and it was great. We never met Dan, but his father was very kind and friendly, despite not speaking any English (and we spoke very little Italian). The room is massive, as is the bathroom, and the breakfast is extremely generous with assorted fruit, coffee, toast, and jams. The town is quiet, but it has a great fruit and vegetable shop, pizza shop, and panini shop if you are looking to get some additional snacks.
For our day trips to Taormina and surrounding areas we were perfectly located. Pre-load the google map for the area onto your phone or have a map handy because it will be useful for getting around. It is tricky but by no means impossible.