La Villa delle Spezie

The bedrooms stayed scorching hot. The listing made it sound as if there was air conditioning in the bedrooms, but it was only in the kitchen, living room, and upstairs living room. The manager said leaving it on would cool the bedrooms too, but that was another inaccuracy. The house itself was shabby, with old, mismatched furniture. The outdoor furniture had no cushions and couldn’t be used, the swing was completely rusty, and there was no dish drainer or basic kitchen equipment. Maintenance seemed lacking as well. Our first night was sleepless because an alarm connected to the photovoltaic system sounded all night. When we first noticed the problem, we asked Andrea, the manager, what was going on. He explained how to fix it and assured us it wouldn’t happen overnight, but it did. Spending the night awake with a two-year-old was a huge inconvenience. The gardener arrived at 8:00 in the morning. The owner also turned up without warning and wrongly accused us of not looking after the air conditioning ourselves, despite never having given us instructions.