Our arrival in Venice was around 1pm, check-in was 3pm we stored our luggage in the railway station and explored the city. I telephoned Caroline e Marco to arrange a check-in time of 6pm which suited us both. The agent, Bruno (approachable, excellent spoken English), met us off the Vaporetto at the Rialto Bridge, and walked us to the apartment (genuinely 2 minutes walk from Rialto) crossing only one bridge with our suitcases with Bruno indicating venues of interest . At the apartment what you see in the photographs is EXACTLY what you get. Beautiful. Perfect. Serene. Calm. Superbly appointed. The white leather sofa is beautiful quality; furniture from my favourite Italian company Calligaris (swoon) and such an impeccably clean environment you'd swear it could be used for surgery! There wasn't one single thing we had to buy besides food and drink. There's a full sized hairdryer in the bathroom, vacuum cleaner and washing machine/dryer (didn't use either of these, but handy if you travel with family). There were toiletries in the bathroom to get you through the first day and no skimping on the availability of towels, dishwasher tablets, etc etc.

After Bruno had shown us everything, he invited us to sit down and he proceeded to give us a run down of what's available in Venice, helped us log on to the wifi answered questions about the history of gondoliers and many more besides. He provided a map and wrote information on it. He was kind, entertaining, knowledgeable and pretty slick with his smartphone. He provided his mobile (cell) number in case we needed any help and then departed to give us time to unpack, relax and explore.

We wanted to let family/friends know we'd arrived but found the wifi glitchy. We found a workaround that meant that only 1 person could log on with one device at a time. After a few days and discussing this with other travellers (in hotels and other apartment) it appeared to be the norm for them too.

That was on Monday evening. On Thursday evening we had a telephone conversation about check out and inventory as we'd an early departure time on Friday. Everything was in order. Nothing was any trouble, and I have to say that our experience of this apartment, of our interactions with the agency and with their on the ground agent, Bruno, were faultless. This is what every traveller needs when they go abroad. The security and reassurance of perfect accommodation awaiting you at the end of a long day exploring.

We cooked in the apartment, and we also ate out at Bruno's recommended restaurant. Both experiences were lovely and after talking to other travellers in the city we felt we'd had the best experience possible.

Grazie Caroline e Marco e Bruno; e Ciao!