Marino’s is a smart, comfortable impeccably-styled apartment in a great area of Siracusa, about 10 minutes walk from Ortigia. The apartment is exactly as it appears in the photos, lovingly decorated with some interesting art pieces - and a little more spacious than it appeared too, which is always a bonus. Mario was a friendly and welcoming host, very prompt with all replies and enquiries. He evenly very sweetly, left us a bottle of tonic, when he saw we had unpacked a bottle of duty-free gin, when we arrived. A very nice and appreciated touch!
The apartment is one block from the main steeet of Siracusa, but is tranquil nonetheless, with the benefit of lots of cafés, bakeries and restaurants to choose from in the immediate vicinity. Make sure you try out Marino’s recommendations for restaurants by the way (Divino Mare and L’isoletta served excellent seafood and even catered for me, a vegetarian ) and the granita at Caffè Sicilia in Noto was also delicious. Also worth asking is if you can borrow Mario’s beach umbrella, if you are headed out to one of the more isolated beaches - we didn’t even think to ask and could really have used it when we when to Calamoche Beach. Sicily is still baking hot even in mid-September.
Likewise, we found the lovely deck (with glimpses of the marina in the distance and views of the surrounding rooftops) upstairs a little too exposed to use during the day, while we were there unfortunately, but it was lovely in the cool of the evening. Mario lives next door to the apartment and so the terrace is not completely separate from his living area (we used the washing machine in his area and were able to hang it out laundry in the shared area), but Mario is a very relaxed and discreet host and this was not a problem at all. We were driving during our trip and also found it quite easy to find free parking in the streets around Mario’s place, which was also extremely convenient.
We would definitely recommend a visit both to Siracusa and to Mario’s lovely apartment - we hope to visit again ourselves next year!