Casa Marta Suite

The property was a nice private apartment in the heart of the new neighbourhood of Taranto. The apartment was functional with plenty of space and a small kitchen... everything worked fine for our family of 2 adults and 3 kids. There is plenty of parking options outside, though it may still be difficult to find a spot depending on the time you get there. The host was easy to communicate with but I gave the lowest score because of the point n. 2 in what I didn't like

there are 2 things I didn't really like: 1. the area - although it's central, in front of the with a lot of life in the evening (it was summer when we were there, I don't know about the winter), it feels somewhat doggy. There are illegal parkers in every corner - you cannot escape them, hence make sure to pay BOTH the regular parking fee AND give these illegal parkers a tip otherwise, I guess, something might happen to your car. I guess the other option could be to find a private garage. Also in the main square close the property there were,. more or less, some doggy faces depending on the hour. 2. RED FLAG - The tourist tax management: the host charged ALL of us, including the children (10 year old the oldest) saying that that the Taranto municipality didn't provide clear breakdown of the tourist tax so they HAD TO make every member pay. HOWEVER, we checked on the Taranto municipality official website and guidelines about tourist taxes were clear and neat: children did NOT have to pay - also because, how would they file their tax if they hadn't known it at this point? Let's pretend that this excuse was real, what do I need to do to get my money back once the tourist tax guidelines become clear? We tried to make them notice all of this but they insisted with this version so, although we felt defrauded we paid (strictly in cash in keeping with their instructions) to avoid arguments in a city which was not ours. We as Italians who travel a lot the country know these rules but I guess foreigners or people who seldom travel just pay without knowing so, be aware that they may be making some extra profit with this trick.