Da Marlà Al Politeama

A cosy apartment, awesome staff, and a stay I’d recommend.

We were supposed to stay two nights, and the place looked promising at first, but the problems became clear once we were inside. The fixtures are dated and not suitable for a holiday rental. We practically couldn’t sleep, and it wasn’t because it was New Year’s Eve. There was also noise from the internal courtyard and its various engines: a small window in the guest bathroom, made who knows how, wouldn’t close. The main bathroom toilet seat was broken and rusty around the fixings. I have photos of that and of the chronic black dirt that came off on the cloth I used to clean the fixtures myself, but I can’t upload them. When I raised the dirt, the owner called it a little dust and said it was possible, despite my saying it was longstanding, ingrained dirt. The host’s response to the sleep problem was just as inadequate: I asked my wife to raise it respectfully, and he told her with very little tact to solve it by putting in earplugs. I never met him in person. I had to arrange picking up and returning the keys through a business next door. I’ll stop here, though there’s more, and hope the owner will at least apologize this time instead of responding the way he did before.

The transport links are great: the airport bus and regular buses stop right outside, and the train station is an easy walk. But the street noise is awful, especially overnight, when horns and motorcycles kept me from sleeping. A clean room is what makes it feel bearable, since otherwise it’s noisy enough to feel like you’re sleeping outdoors.