Marida and her husband are very welcoming hosts,always kind and friendly to us and other guests. They come to the property every day to clean the pool, so you can ask questions etc.

Villa Paladino itself is a very well designed and kept property of 5 apartments, beautiful garden and natural-looking pool. All accessories that you might need are there for guests to use - beach chairs, umbrellas, patio tables and chairs etc.

Our apartment was very cosy, although looked way smaller than on the pictures. The kitchen was well equipped, so we could cook our meals, but the cooking stove was on top of the fridge, so the fridge would not keep cold too well.. Everything was clean and nicely decorated. We really enjoyed the place and the only downsides were the shower curtain,that was too short and all the water came on the floor,creating a large lake that we had to clean up after each shower.Marida said they will put in shower cabins soon,so it won't be an issue in the future. And the wi-fi is not the best,there is 1 router for the whole property that the guests had to share between each other -depending where the router was, you might or might not get a signal. So if you need internet access during your holidays, like I did for work,it makes a difference.

As much as we like the property, it's pretty far from everywhere, so you will need a car if you're going to stay there. Train station is about 15 minutes fast walk and there are no sidewalks. To get to the closest shop it's another 10 minutes, and this one is really expensive, so you'd better choose the supermarket in Porticello, which is walking about 45 minutes. There is no decent beach nearby - the closest one is in Aspra and we had to drive to get there about 15-20 minutes. That beach was really dirty, so we ended up going to Mondello ( 1 hour drive) and Cefalu (1.5 hour drive) to swim in the sea.

Sicily has amazing food - the pizzeria in Aspra called Alla Fontanella is the best and you can get a huge pizza for 6-7 euros. You also have to try Sicilian ice-cream, they are the best in the world.

We enjoyed Sicilian food and sunny weather during our stay. Villa Paladino seemed like a quiet oasis in the midst of craziness of the surroundings - we didn't like Sicily itself because of the lack of any driving laws, making getting around like a joyride. Same laws apply in stores/bars/post office - you have to scream for service... And the garbage and dirt all over every street, park and beach was really disgusting. Sicilians don't take care of their enviornment or historical buildings at all and it's really sad. Still - as long as we stayed in the Villa, we had a good time.