Nicola's place was perfect for our situation. It's located on the outer edge of the city, with a bus stop just down the street a little ways that comes every 10 minutes or so. The bed was comfortable, and the bathroom was spacious!
Due to our limited stay, we weren't able to socialize with nicola too much as we were rushing out the door early each morning, but he was very nice and polite when he picked us up from the train station. He was very knowledgeable about his hometown, and had loads of information for us upon our arrival, maps, and all that stuff.
The only cons of this place were it was pretty warm at night so we kept the windows open, which left an opportunity for Mosquitos to enter and be an annoyance. But that could easily be avoided if you plan ahead with some bug repellant of sorts. This should not be a deterrent from staying here, because the pros far outweigh the cons of stayin with nicola.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here, and would recommend it to everyone!