The home and grounds are immaculate. The house was ample size for our family. We enjoyed the pool right outside our door. The arrangement of the outside space would be great for a large party, but we only had 13 people. For our arrival, they had a beautiful welcome spread of fresh and local foods. The location is right on the beach, but there are no beach views. The house sits on about 1.5 acres of beautiful landscape enclosed within a fortress. You will need to meet with them for the host to let you in. Tgey met us at tge train station, then walked us down the locked street to our house. The key situation can be tricky, so it's important to communicate with your group to designate a key keeper, conmunicator, etc. There is a grocery store within walking distance. They did not keep on hand basic items, so we bought salt, olive oil, etc. Although they have some coffee and tea items, we bought additional pods and sugar for our group. There are a few restaurants close by. I'dsuggest renting a car if you wish to leave the area. Although we were close to Cefalu, we never made it there. It is not walking distance and there are no taxis or rideshare services. You can try to hire a driver for the day, but it is between $260-$600 for the day for 4-8 people and 4-8 hours depending. There are restaurants and bars on the beach and surrounding area, but otherwise you are pretty far from anywhere else. We had though we would be able to hop off and on a train to Cefalu, but the train only runs every 2 hours. You have to plan carefully. The same goes for the train from Palermo. Also, keep note. You do not get off at the Cefalu train stop. We had thought we were booking in Cefalu, but were not. This house is 2 train stops away from Cefalu.
As far as the house goes, it is nice. Not the best ever, but nice. The beds are quite hard, but we all slept well. Be prepared with bug spray. With all of the vegetation, there are a lot of mosquitoes on the grounds. Although there are beautiful open air glass windows, we had to keep them closed to keep the mosquitoes out. Also, be advised that the groundskeeper/manager is on the grounds every day taking care of the plants, etc. It never bothered us, but it was sort of odd to not feel fully private. It's par for the course, so it was fine once we realized that was a regular daily task of the property. Would I stay there again? Probably. I at least know what to expect now. It worked out for our group, and that is the important thing.
On a sidenote, when figuring out how to divide expenses, the division should not put the same value on the bunk beds or the twin beds as the queen beds or bedrooms. There are 6 rooms. 5 have queen beds and one room is small with 3 twin beds which include bunk beds. Although it sleeps 3, the room is quite small. If I did it again, I would put a partial value on the twins and put more value on the rooms. We have 2 kids, and the 4 of us ended up spending close to $600 per night for just our 4, so I don't think that was a good value. It broke down to $130/night per person for the others. It still was really expensive. In comparison to other house rentals, it was comparable.
I'm sharing our experiences not to dissuade you, but to be prepared. We truly enjoyed our stay and the space was perfect for our family.