Rifugio Degli Svevi

The worst stay I’ve ever had. Don’t book this place.

We left the B&B before finishing our three-night booking. The only thing going for it was the very central location. The spiral stairs were impossible with our suitcases, the bathrooms smelled nauseating, and the next morning we found a huge beetle and a giant cockroach in the room. The owner said we’d get the cost of the two unused nights back, but that never happened.

We still haven’t received the partial refund we were promised, and this stay ruined our weekend and my wife’s birthday. I booked on Booking.com for July 5 to July 7, 2025, and paid €160, which was a real sacrifice. I’d give it zero stars if I could, though I have to give one. The building was dirty, and the fridge already had food and drinks left by previous guests. The room was on the top floor, stiflingly hot, and the air conditioning didn’t work the first night. The next day Mrs. Alessandra said she’d contact the owner, then told us he was mortified and would offer a partial refund. We still needed a second night, but couldn’t manage those conditions, so I asked to move to a lower-floor room that was being cleaned after the previous guests left. The owner refused because new guests were due that afternoon. They sent a handyman with a portable penguin air conditioner and said the problem was fixed for the second night. When we turned it on around midnight at checkout, it made a terrible noise. We recorded it and sent the video to Mrs. Alessandra the next day. Highly recommended, if you want a complete zero.

We stayed two nights and found the place in terrible shape, despite it having been renovated. The room door handle was broken, the shower faucet leaked, and its thermostat didn’t work, so the water swung from freezing to boiling in seconds. The bidet wobbled and only gave boiling water. There was mold and a leak from the bathroom ceiling, with a lot of water coming through, perhaps from the toilet above. The TV didn’t work, maybe because of dead batteries. Check-in was remote, so we never met the manager, and there was a problem straight away: he had booked us for one night instead of two. The owner ignored our complaint but complained that we checked out ten minutes late. He said he had to move guests from the room upstairs because its air conditioning wasn’t working. The lack of support and poor value for money make this place hard to recommend.