Antonio's apartment is excellent- there are two good size bedrooms with very comfortable beds ; we cooked occasionally and the kitchen facilities were good; with a small verandah we chose to eat outside most nights - but in the heat of the day , the living room was always cool and comfortable even without the aircon on. The pool and sun bathing terrace are brilliant, with beautiful views over the town of Taormina and right across to Etna. We loved the position of the apartment outside of the bustle of the town but just 5 minutes walk to the top of the Corso Umberto -the main shopping street, so no disturbances at night - just peace and quiet. It was also great to be above the town as we walked up to the little pretty town of CastleMola twice - which is practically straight up - a pretty gruelling walk of 40 minutes - but well worth it for the views and the town is well worth a visit - for Churches, restaurants and the famous Phallus bar!
We decided not to hire a car on our holiday but used taxis and mostly local buses - Antonio is a great host and arranged for the taxi to meet us off the train when we arrived and had one waiting to take us to the bus station when we left, he really is very kind and as he lives on site is always there to answer questions and help - but never intrudes! We were lucky enough to have the Taormina film festival going on the week of our stay and saw two films for free and even an interview with the actor Rupert Everett !
I would also recommend using the local buses for trips rather than the very expensive tours - we got ourselves to the beautiful water park at Alcantara on the bus 5 Euros return and 1 Euro 50 at the local entrance - where the tour guides were charging a fee of 30 Euros per person! I would also recommend the beautiful beach down the hill at Isola Bella - we took the cable car most days as we saw that as part of the fun of the day! And it is definitely worth buying water shoes - but the fish we saw were amazing I have never had such a good experience snorkelling before! There are lots of boats trips available too, all very reasonable but we ran out of time to take one! Other people we met said that the beach of Naxos was probably more suitable for younger children but we didn't have time to try it!
A big thank you to Antonio for making our holiday really memorable and I would say that if you are looking for a self catering holiday this is a great apartment and you will have a lovely time!