Il Sonaglio

The music was still pounding at midnight while I was writing this, even with earplugs in and white noise turned all the way up. It was so loud that sleep felt impossible. It went on from around 10-11 pm until 2-3 am, and I’ve never had to put up with anything like it in all my travels around Italy, other islands, or city centres. Calling it Italy, island life, or city-centre noise doesn’t explain away club music at that volume. It was unacceptable, and this is a terrible place if you’re hoping to rest. There were other serious problems too. The booking description gives the impression of a B&B, but this is an apartment with several private rooms and no breakfast. There’s a kitchen sign telling guests not to use it because it’s apparently for administration. The owner only explains in private messages after you’ve booked that it’s a shared apartment, with little privacy. You can hear people moving around and using their bathrooms. That felt misleading, basically catfishing. The bathroom also smelled because of what seemed like unsuitable plumbing. Clean floors don’t count for much when you can’t sleep or the bathroom stinks. I can’t understand how there was only one bad Google review among all the comments about cleanliness. After we checked out, the host canceled our booking on Booking.com, making it look as if we had skipped the reservation. I’d been feeling a bit bad about how blunt this review was, but not anymore.