A superb apartment in the main town of Siracusa. Its about a 10 minute walk to Ortigia and its superb attractions, with many places to eat, sightsee or just wander around. The apartment itself was wonderful: clean, very spacious, very well furnished with a very comfortable double bed and lovely linen. Everything is new - we were the first to stay there - and all of the fittings and furniture is of good quality and in perfect condition. We cooked for ourselves for most of the 5 days of our stay and the kitchen area had everything we needed to prepare a meal. Plenty of restaurants within a 10 minute walk but the fish market in Ortigia is so tempting that it forces you to buy the fresh fish and cook for yourself.
Marco, his wife and an English speaking friend were waiting for us on arrival and helped us get parked and show us around the apartment. It was a very easy, comfortable and friendly welcome. They also left some delicious biscuits and a very good bottle of wine. We had a couple of minor queries over the next few days (for example about how to dispose of rubbish and a request for a brush) and had very quick replies, just as we had received when scheduling our arrival.
There is a supermarket a 100 metres or so to the north of the apartment and a very useful shop next door which sells fresh bread, cold meats, cheeses and antipasti as well as other groceries and fresh meat. The apartment is next to the road so some traffic and people noise but generally quiet during the night and the noise didn't bother us. Parking is on the street but we always found a space within 50 metres of the apartment, although a small car is recommended.
Siracusa itself is a great town to visit and easy to spend several days there but it is also in easy day trip distance of many other wonderful towns such as Noto, Ragusa, Modica and numerous good beaches. By chance, we drove from Catania to Ragusa, via Canicattini and Palazzolo and we were astonished at the beauty of the Sicilian countryside. Not surprising that sections of the route had been used a few days earlier for the Giro d'Italia, presumably to showcase the wonderful scenery.
This was our first visit to Sicily and we will be returning and we'd definitely stay in this apartment again on a return to Siracusa.