Dimora dei Normanni Bed and Breakfast

I’d give it zero if I could, but the lowest score is 1. This was a nightmare of a stay in what they call a “five-stall” B&B. The owner’s lovely photos show a nearby sanctuary, not this place. The rooms were filthy and gruesome, with broken bedside sconces held together with tape. The bathrooms smelled bad and were dingy, and ants crawled over the kitchen sink. The air conditioner had no remote, so you had to get out of bed to switch it off. Everything was terrible.

We only stayed one night, luckily. I’d trusted the positive reviews on one website when booking. The location was the one bright spot, just a few kilometers from Etnaland and Etnapolice. Otherwise, this rundown place was dirty, full of dusty junk, and had electrical wires everywhere in the bathroom. The owner was kind, but much too intrusive. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

I stayed for one night and agree completely with Denny Pizzuto. My room, like the others, had no air conditioning. There was a fan, but it mostly made noise, and I’d guess it dated to 1985. There wasn’t a bathroom in my room. The owner told me another guest was in the room with a bathroom, that we shared a balcony, and I could go through it whenever I needed the toilet. In winter? I’d rather stay there than shower on a balcony in the rain. The photos weren’t real, and the place seemed made up. I’d been looking for a B&B in the area with a hot tub, even for €200 a night, then found this for €50 and thought, it’s a small village, okay. That wasn’t what I got. It was a bare, hole-in-the-wall room and an awful stay. As the guy above said, he’d had a lovely stay with his girlfriend six months ago. If I’d come with my girlfriend in the middle of winter, warm and without any problems like him, I might’ve had a great time too. Good company makes a difference, but it wasn’t the B&B’s comforts that made his stay.

My sister and I got back yesterday after three days at DIMORA DEI NORMANNI A PATERNO’, and it was a nightmare. The owner had advertised it as fantastic, with a family atmosphere and everything provided, like a five-star hotel. Five stables, at most! He was rude and ill-mannered, and the photos online didn’t match the place. There were three rooms. One, which he called the suite, had its own bathroom. The other rooms shared a bathroom and towels. Nobody greeted us when we arrived in the morning, even though they knew we were coming. After a long wait, the man who said he was the owner showed up. We had a quick look around and chose the suite. It was modest and cold, fairly dirty, with half a centimeter of dust on the bedside tables and windowsill, broken shutters, and filthy blankets, and that’s putting it kindly. The ensuite water was so cold it seemed colder than straight from a spring. There was one tiny towel for two people, a sink like Barbie’s, no bidet, no toilet paper, and the light kept flickering. On the balcony, a tempting cushion hid a broken chair seat that looked ready to injure your tailbone. After paying €70 upfront and taking the first freezing showers, I had to kneel over the shower tray to wash my hair without getting cold. So we complained. Instead of apologizing or fixing things, the owner blamed us for choosing that room, said showers had to be quick, accused us of making the electricity cut out to spite him, and said we were jealous because he was earning money. We just wanted hot water. We’d paid for it. After we argued and told him we wouldn’t settle the bill if he kept leaving us cold and without water, he turned on the heating and the water got hot. The next day, afraid we wouldn’t pay, he threatened to lock us out with our suitcases inside unless we paid one day early. My father-in-law settled the bill at his suggestion, and we packed up and fled.