Beautiful, modern, clean apartment in Messina with nearby ample street parking (free and paid) and close to public transport and walking distance to shopping and dining. This was a wonderful introduction to Airbnb as this was our first ever rental using this service. Ivan was a wonderful host answering all my many questions before the trip both quickly and thoroughly. When we arrived, Ivan met us at the apartment, showed us around and explained everything and left his contact information should we need anything. When a circuit breaker tripped at midnight and I texted Ivan trying to find out what happened, he responded quickly with directions on where to find the breaker and offered to come over if I couldn’t figure it out. Afterwards, Ivan sent me a nice text hoping I had a safe flight back home. A perfect host. The apartment was lovely and just about perfect. It’s in a gated apartment complex, and was safe, quiet, and comfortable. Any noises from the other apartments in the building were barely audible if at all. The kitchen was a good size, with stove, oven, Nespresso, fridge, dishwasher, ironing board, and table for two. Ivan had stocked the fridge with some drinks and left various items for breakfast. Outside the kitchen was a balcony with a washer and ample space to hang your laundry to dry on both a fixed clothesline and a drying rack that was portable and appeared to be relatively new. The bedroom was a good size, with a flat screen TV and tons of floor to ceiling closet storage. The living room was very large featuring a couch, dining table for four, another flat screen TV, and a big selection of books. There’s a setup for a home theater with projector, screen, and multiple speakers in the walls – unfortunately it was not setup for us, too bad as this would have been an awesome little extra! (As a side note we spent most of our time exploring Sicily and visiting family and would likely not have used this theater system too much.) Off of the living room was the second ‘bedroom’ with a sofa-bed with a new mattress. There’s a curtain that provides some privacy from the front door, however there’s another doorway to the living room that you can see straight into. It would be a perfect little space if it were walled off to create a proper bedroom, and may not be a big issue, but just something which to be aware. It is certainly appropriate for children or a close family member. The bathroom was fine, if a little dark and the shower a little cramped (at least by US standards). The apartment had air conditioning with split units in the living room and kitchen. This meant that when it was really hot out, the bedroom got a little stuffy, but sleeping was fine. Overall, a great apartment and host, one that I hope to be able to visit again sometime and...