Guest Comments - Feedbacks

2008-09-04 by Chris from UK

Hi RJ staff!

Firstly, many thanks for your own earlier help including correcting your own location map for Villa in Santa Flavia in Sicily which meant we found the location with ease, even in the dark, without being lost for days in the Sicilian hinterland.

We though Villa was excellent but I'll give you both the pros and the cons.

The proprietors were very helpful in advance, agreeing to our late arrival and allowing us to eat late at their own restaurant. They were extremely friendly and helpful throughout our stay - gave very good advice about the area including how to park in the most difficult place to drive on this planet - Palermo. At the end of our visit they gave us two free bottles of their own very good vino rosso which we had to drink immediately given difficulties of taking liquids on the plane home!

The villa itself is a magnificent old building where you can eat in the courtyard admiring the stars and the surroundings. The lunchtime/evening food is usually very good, wine too. Breakfast - quite a good buffet but not as extensive as a hotel's (as you would expect for an agriturismo). Service extremely friendly.

The grounds are beautiful - olives, lemons, vines - with some delicious aromas at nightime. The pool is excellent and very well kept (cleaned by robot, partly!).

Our accommodation in the new building was excellent - stylish, and very comfortable. Some rooms had little terraces which looked great - we booked too late for this but there are a number of pleasant communal spots where you can sit in the shade. Our son's room was in the old villa itself - obviously less modern and less well decorated but spacious and full of character - and with a charming terrace with views towards the mountains.

Overall we liked it very much indeed and wish to return. It's ideal if, like us, you want easy access to Palermo, Cefalu, Erice and Agrigento.

OK the down side - I'll be brief because we did like it here a lot. However....the train track immediately behind the villa does produce some noise especially in our sons's room which was the nearest room to it. But trains are not very frequent. Also, the main road produces some traffic noise and music drifts in from bars at night. None of this is a big problem but it does mean it is not a quiet, rural retreat which some people may want of an agriturismo.

The other thing is that the Villa does run a lot of functions of differing sizes for the public. On the night we arrived a wedding on the magnificent balcony - romantic but live music blasted out as we ate! Other events were smaller and far less disturbing - drinks receptions with far fewer people and little or no noise - but a full carpark.

Overall, great - loved it - and all the staff really were extremely friendly (even given we have about 8 words of Italian).

Hope this is helpful!

Oh and we shall use Rural Journies gain!

Best wishes

Chris