When you watch the ad for Airbnb, you hear the tag line, "Don't just tour a place, live it." That is how we felt about staying at Scalilla Palace in Marsala, Sicily. We DID spend a week touring Sicily and decided to take an extra week to travel on our own and visit family members.

We booked our room at Scalilla Palace back in January and were immediately contacted by Marina, welcoming us and offering to help with any needs we had prior to our visit. We kept in contact a few times and Marina was always quick to respond.

After our tour, we contacted Marina and she was quick to give us directions (we traveled by bus from Palermo) and met us at the bus station with her car and a warm greeting. From that moment on, we knew we had made the right choice.

Scalilla Palace is a beautiful, old palazzo in the center of the old city of Marsala, close to all attractions (that is, restaurants, cafes, shopping, churches, and the evening passagiatas on Saturday and Sunday - not to be missed.) Marina is a lovely woman who helped us get settled in our spacious room overlooking a small street. The Palace also has a larger room and an apartment which she showed us. Within the hour, she had given us refreshments and made a call to my husband's family to make arrangements for our visit to their town for a day. (My Italian is only okay and my husband's is nill.)

During the six days we were in Marsala, Marina gave us her picks of the best restaurants (SLO was delightful), as well as assisting in renting us a car for two days (she did all the work) and booking another Airbnb for us in a more remote area near Canicatti, where my family is from.

We shared stories about careers, traveling, family, etc. that made our visit more like visiting with family rather than staying at a hotel. She is very conscientious about making your stay as comfortable as possible. Breakfast was copious and delicious with coffee, tea, croissants (cornettas in Italian), fruit, orange juice, yogurt, cereal, the list goes on.
She is also concerned about your dietary needs so be sure you make her aware of any needs that you may have. I have to limit my sugar intake so she adjusted the breakfast to fit my needs.

All in all, it was a fantastic visit that we will remember for a lifetime. You should be aware that the palazzo is on the second floor so you will need to climb several steps. It may prove tricky for people with leg, balance issues.