Calliope and Massimo were wonderful. Our communication leading up to our stay were very good, and Calliope always answered quickly. She provided very specific and detailed instructions for which vaparetto to take from the train station and which stop to use, and asked us to send her a text when we left Venice Santa Lucia station so she or Massimo could meet us at the vaparetto stop and take us to the apartment.
We arrived at high tide, in the middle of a torrential rainstorm and the day that Venice was experiencing massive flooding; in fact, the waters that afternoon were the highest since 1966. And the vaparetto system had shut down most of the stops. Others required you to wade through water that was knee-deep to waist-deep. Of course, no one told us that our stop was closed until we were almost to St. Mark's Square...But we were able to text Calliope and she and Massimo told us to get off at the next open stop and wait. After about 45 minutes, they arrived, soaked to the waist, and helped us navigate our way back to the apartment. They were absolutely wonderful.
The apartment was very clean, very comfortable and located about 2 blocks off the Grand Canal, on a small side canal. The neighborhood was quiet and there were several good restaurants, a greengrocer, two gelaterias and a nice pastry shop within 2 minutes walk. Great location, great apartment, FANTASTIC hosts. Would definitely recommend.