Riccardo is indeed a great host, very helpful, accurate and easy going. We appreciated his utmost hospitality as in the middle of the night, upon our late arrival due to late plane, we brought another couple that we met on a plane and that didn't have a place to sleep - they said they will try their chances. Luckily, Riccardo's other room was available and so we could all enjoy his stylish, clean and cosy apartment with Etna overlooking balconies all around. It was indeed as staying at a friend's place, but you could also be independent and have your privacy if you wanted. We can also say that both rooms are cosy, as we stayed at his apartment both on arrival as well as on departure from Sicily. January with 17 degrees in Catania was very welcoming, but so were the (the only negative side of our experience) - hungry mosquitos (but even in this case Riccardo had a tool ready to fight them: spray).