George2020年8月

In all, Vittoria’s place was an idyllic home base for exploring eastern Calabria, but poor and confusing communication made us almost cancel our booking a week before our trip. We weren’t even sent the address until the day before arrival, but it was worth persevering, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Peace, quiet, and solitude are key factors for us when booking holiday accommodations and the listing was so vague, we had no idea until we actually arrived whether we would be sharing the space with other travellers. As it turned out, we were in a spacious masseria, surrounded by citrus groves in which we could sit and watch the stars at night. There were two other families staying in the same complex, but we rarely saw or heard them, though future guests could be faced with all-night partyers or noisy children playing tag among the bergamot trees. It’s a risk to consider. Our living space was roomy, easily sleeping four or five, with two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a dining/lounge area. The main, upstairs bedroom was extremely hot, but we asked for a fan, which combined with the downstairs air conditioning cooled things off enough. We cook a lot on holidays and the kitchen was adequate but lacking in basic equipment such as a cheese grater and wine glasses and absolutely no essentials such as salt, oil, or water are provided. There were a few eccentric niggles with the property – we never could figure out where to put our rubbish, for example – but nothing that prevented us from enjoying the glorious surroundings. The masseria is three minutes’ drive from the agriturismo that is run by the same owner. The agriturismo clearly hosts many more guests than the masseria, but we were there during the Covid-19 crisis and few others were to be seen. Organic meals are served there (25 Euros for a four-course meal) but the one night we booked a table got cancelled because the restaurant was closed on Monday. We were offered lemonade, fruit, coffee, and crostata upon arrival and departure, and I got the feeling that they would happily provide anything you asked for. The star attraction for us was the glorious swimming pool, beautifully set in an enclosed garden area with banana trees, lounge chairs, and a spectacular view. Again, perhaps because of the dates we were there or our non-Italian schedules, we had the pool to ourselves throughout most of our stay. This may not always be the case, as the bewildering instructions for the pool specify limits for swimming times and number of people allowed in the pool. Now that we know the details of the place and some of the mysteries are solved, we would be much more comfortable booking and staying there again and would recommend it to other travellers looking for a lovely and well-located place to stay in Calabria.