Raffaele and his wife are superb hosts and the apartment is fantastic (I won't rehash everything, just read the description and check out the photos). And the views are stunning: Etna seems so close, it's unreal! When we arrived there were croissants, fruit juice, and mineral water in the fridge

Piedimonte Etneo is just up the hill from a motorway exit so it is really handy for getting around. Yes, a car is a must around here. The motorway tolls are really cheap, so you can whizz up and down the eastern coast of Sicily at leisure. The town is also less than 40 minutes from the northern slopes of Etna at Piano Provenzana where you can be bussed up to the craters by expert guides. It is a small, quiet town but it has all the facilities: banks, post office, ATMs, bars, a couple of supermarkets, pizza restaurants with delivery service, there is a great bar-cum-bakery that does all sorts of cakes and pastries, you can buy fresh fruit and vegetables from a number of shops and stalls.

We enjoyed packing plenty of tourism into our days then retiring to the apartment to relax, and dine on produce bought on our travels.

Raffaele was always on hand to advise us and he replied promptly to my numerous messages asking for advice. If you need anything "parlate!" , said he.

There was space for everyone and we particularly appreciated the wifi connection as we needed to get online for work and play at various intervals.

Top marks all round, we really enjoyed it and fully recommend "Between Etna and Taormina's Beaches". Grazie Raffaele !