Palazzo Marinella Historic Residence with Pool between Etna Taormina & Sea

The property has been beautifully restored and has a real wow factor to it plus the garden and pool area is fantastic. We had the two bedroomed "Cherubs" apartment which also had a huge terrace with great views of Mount Etna from it. The larger of the two bedrooms is impressive with high vaulted ceiling and the huge bed head which conceals a large amount of storage behind it. The location is excellent with bakeries, cafés, bars, restaurants and shopping all within the immediate vicinity and a supermarket about 5 minutes walk. Railway station approximately 15 minutes walk which we used getting to and from the airport and for day trips. We were there for 7 nights and for most of that didn't see any other guests so pretty much had the outdoor facilities to ourselves. I am a very light sleeper so the addition of the shutters on all the windows and doors cut out both light and noise which really helped me sleep well especially after previously staying in a hotel Palermo on a busy and very noisy main road.

The large shower head was very weak but the small handheld one was very good which suggests a fault with it. We managed with the smaller one so only a minor inconvenience. Despite having an instruction manual for the air conditioning units we just couldn't seem to get them to work. Luckily because of the room height and the addition of the shutters the room temperature wasn't too bad. Lastly more of a suggestion than an issue, we felt that the apartment was missing a nice comfortable seating area such as a large sofa. As this was the chill out part of our holiday we spend time reading and relaxing so the addition of that would have really been nice. Do want to add that none of the above really impacted on our time here and we wouldn't hesitate to book again

Giarre is een kleinere stad en Palazzo Marinella ligt in een beetje een buitenwijk. Als het rustig is kun je in de straat parkeren en anders dichtbij in de buurt. Er is een supermarkt op loopafstand en in de buurt zijn meerdere restaurants waar je heerlijk kunt eten. ( Aanrader: La Tavernetta). Enzo en Marinella vertelden dat ze het pand 3 jaar geleden hebben gekocht en helemaal hebben verbouwd. Het is werkelijk prachtig gedaan! Er zijn 4 appartementen in en wij hadden de junior suite aan de achterkant. We hadden een balkon met een zitje met prachtig uitzicht op de bergen en op de tuin. Eén van de andere appartementen heeft een groot dakterras met uitzicht op de Etna. Het appartement is zeer smaakvol ingericht met mooie spullen van goede kwaliteit. Uitstekend bed met heerlijke kussens. Mooie badkamer met inloopdouche. In de keuken stond zout, peper en azijn en meerdere theezakjes en koffiecupjes en wat kleine snacks. Dit maakte dat we ons zeer welkom voelden. Het zwembad is echt een bonus, heerlijk!

In de eerste nacht veel hinder gehad van blaffende honden. Gelukkig hebben we die later niet meer gehoord. Er zijn geen extra handdoeken voor bij het zwembad. Mede daardoor is het aantal handdoeken dat je krijgt erg beperkt. Een handdoek wissel en aanvulling van het toiletpapier halverwege ons verblijf had ik erg op prijs gesteld. Al met al een prachtige oase, we hebben erg genoten van ons verblijf!

Lovely restoration of an old palazzo, Giarre is ideally located for Etna, Taormina and Catania. Great local restaurants recommended by the hosts.

It was a great, clean place to stay, and not a too long drive to most places. Rooms were spacious, very clean, and well-stocked. Furnishings were great and everything needed was there. Owner’s wife helped my husband who was not feeling well.

There was a last minute problem with the amount of people they had listed. My papers from Booking.com clearly showed the people in each of the 4 rooms we reserved. I had inadvertently written down the wrong names for each room, and after our plane was delayed and we arrived very late, I was very tired and didn’t argue with them. However, upon check/-out, I was charged an extra 240 euros. A rather disappointing end to an otherwise nice stay.