We stayed at Casolare Tre Ulivi for five nights in Sept. It was our first time to Sicily and we were able to explore a few of the surrounding areas easily from the rental; you'll need a car.

We didn't spend much time downstairs in the house or out in the lovely garden (the mosquitoes were out in numbers when we were there) but the views from the windows upstairs were wonderful to wake up to! And, they have screens so the mosquitoes weren't a problem.

We didn't meet Luca but his lovely parents greeted us at a nearby gas station to show us the way to the house and then gave us a quick tour. Luca was very quick to reply when we returned home to find that the hot water heater had broken and had it fixed first thing the following morning.

Balastrate seemed to be closing down for the season when we were there so we spent little time in the town (though the fruit vendor was wonderful and so was our lunch at La Buona Focetta!). We enjoyed a few day trips from the rental.