Taormina Villa Hotel's Guestbook

Hello InItaly,

Thanks once again! As usual, everything we booked through InItaly, including 2 hotels and the airport shuttle, as well as the rental car from AutoEurope, went very smoothly.

In Sicily, the people at Taormina Villa Hotel were extraordinarily hospitable, and the breakfast was delicious. I would advise guests to consider alternatives to driving directly to the hotel, as our rental car just barely fit through the narrow street, and there is no place to stop to unload luggage without holding up traffic. It is more convenient to park at the Porta Catania garage, take the elevator up to the 7th floor exit, and then take a taxi; the taxi stand is very close to the garage exit. Although uphill, it is not a far walk from the Porta Catania main square and could be managed with minimal luggage. If arriving by bus, there is another taxi stand at the bus station, and it cost us only 10 euro from the hotel. Driving in Taormina is about as bad as it gets, even in Italy, but the main streets are easily walkable.

In Rome, Hotel Ponte Sisto continues to be one of my favorite spots, mainly because of the excellent location within walking distance of major sites, and the proximity to several great little restaurants in Trastevere. The airport shuttle was on time and convenient. The shuttle bus doesn't fit on the Hotel Ponte Sisto's narrow street, but it's a short walk to the corner. Again, wonderful breakfast.

Dianna C.

Dear In Italy,

Notes about our trip to Italy, 2008

Rome in 3 days was just about the perfect length of time; didn’t need or want a car because we could walk everywhere. The place that we stayed, Trastevere Family Apartment was located well for us and we had dinner in that area each night. It was also convenient to a taxi stop so that we could easily catch a cab to the train station to pick up our rental car.

Montepulciano – We stayed at Podere di Montepulciano and Marta and Gabriele were great hosts. Gabriele had a bottle of his wine for us when we arrived and the trees were in bloom. We were the only people staying at the place. He invited us to his other place for a dinner and wine-tasting that was one of the highlights of our entire trip. Very nice people. His suggestion of a place to eat on our first night, LaCosta, was unique and quite a find. We recommended to friends who are in Italy now. Very nice atmosphere – fireplace, etc. We have heard that the views from this place are lovely, but we were there after dark. There is a large supermarket just off the Autostrade, where we grocery shopped so that we could use the kitchen.

Next stop, Verona Winery, was a lovely spot, though hard to find. Paulo was a super host and couldn’t have made us feel more welcome. The internet on site was a plus for us and he also had some television channels that were in English, which was nice.

We next flew to Sicily and stayed at the Mondello B&B, and hostess, Silvana, was very hospitable. She has a lovely garden though the place was hard to find and the road was very narrow. Her lemon cake was superb.

Antico Baglio di Noto was one of our favorite places to stay. We had a beautiful room, with a gorgeous view of the Mediterrean Sea overlooking orange groves. Again, we had a hard time finding the place – even with our GPS. The staff was very pleasant and it was nice to have internet available on site, though it was expensive.

On to Taormina Villa Hotel. We again had a difficult time finding the place and, once found, we couldn’t park to check in. We wonder if we would have ever found it except that, after driving around for more than an hour and asking several people (including a police officer), we ran into a pedestrian who happened to know where the place was. We stopped in front to possibly unload our luggage and quickly had a long line of traffic behind us. So, we drove back to the parking garage and carried our luggage the more than 2 blocks back to the place. It’s a very nice area, and the room was more than adequate, but no view. The host and hostess were hospitable and there was internet available, if very slow.

We flew back to Rome and stayed at the Rome Airport Hotel. Their courtesy van picked us up and took us back to the airport the next morning at no cost to us. Our room was first class and we enjoyed dinner right there on the premises. Very convenient, clean, new, secure, hospitable.

Our flights, rental cars and cellular phone worked out well. Our children in the US purchased a calling card and called us several times, which worked better in some places than others. We only needed to use the phone to call ahead to our hosts or, in Rome, to arrange the pickup by courtesy van, but it was nice to have.

Ginger S.

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