We, 3 elderly people, have been at Fausto`s place for 4 nights. A frequent Italian visitor of Sicily had advised us to stay in Monreale if we wanted to visit Palermo. So we could avoid the chaotic traffic there.
Unexpectedly the traffic in Monreale turned out to be very chaotic as well. Hardly a parking place to find.
Fausto was so kind to pick us up near the cathedral to guide us to his house. At first we were disappointed about the location: outside Monreale at the `wrong` side. We still had to go into Palermo by car. Besides, parking at Fausto`s place turned out to be very inconvenient with our car. With a Fiat Panda it might be easier. We have even been talking about looking for another location. But...Fausto convinced us to try it. So we did and after 10 minutes driving we found a parking place right in the first stripe of Palermo very near to a bus station. The bus needed 30 minutes to bring us to the very center. The only problem left was how to survive at night walking to our car:-) So we decided to stay at Fausto`s. The apartment itself is big, but has very basic aminities: no comfortable chairs, a in fact unusable dining table, a chaoticly equipped kitchen, no matches no lighter to light the gas etc. Apart from our first night we only have slept there; the beds are good. We only sat on the terrace (which would be much nicer with some pots with flowers:-) to have breakfast or to drink a glass of wine. Fausto provided us from a bottle of local wine, a gesture that we appreciated very much.
Fausto would be the main reason for us to come back. He showed himself as a very serious, open, honest young guy, prepared to do his utmost to make Palermo a better place where the Mafia no longer will reign. He also did a great job, bringing one of us to Palermo airport in time, which saved her nerves a lot:-) We appreciate him very much.